


Age of Ultron Redux: Fic Version

by madsthenerdygirl



Series: MCU Rewrites [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Canon Rewrite, F/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-04
Updated: 2016-04-04
Packaged: 2018-05-31 07:48:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 26,883
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6461902
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/madsthenerdygirl/pseuds/madsthenerdygirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mads saw 'Age of Ultron.' Mads hated 'Age of Ultron.' Mads rewrote 'Age of Ultron.' Fic version of my redux.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Age of Ultron Redux: Fic Version

**Author's Note:**

> This is the fic version of my Age of Ultron Redux, a rewrite of the 2015 film Avengers: Age of Ultron. I originally wrote the story in script format to prove that it could be done as a film, but some people expressed difficulty in reading that format so I wrote a traditional fic-style version, which I am posting here. Enjoy!

The men inside the mountain bunker moved quickly, despite how bundled up they were. HYDRA had built its bases for functionality, not for comfort, and the cold seeped in no matter how many layers you wore. Every one of them was on high alert. Their numbers had dropped sharply since HYDRA had been exposed and SHIELD disbanded. But their work had not ceased. Here was the secret to achieving power once more, if only they could figure out how to wield it.

An alarm sounded throughout the base like a combination of a fire truck and a foghorn. Everyone began scrambling, taking up battle positions. They had rehearsed this time and again, preparing for the outside attack that they knew was inevitable, but they had never done this for real. It had only ever been for tests. Now the adrenaline coursed through them and the men found their hands shaking as they grabbed their weapons.

“Is it the Winter Soldier?” One of the men shouted in Russian to his companions. Everyone in HYDRA had heard of the Winter Soldier’s sudden turn. He had been moving across Europe, taking down HYDRA’s agents and bases one by one. He had always been a ghost, a specter, but before he had been _their_ ghost. Now he was someone else’s, and he had the vengeance of a poltergeist.

But it wasn’t the Winter Soldier. For one thing, the Winter Soldier couldn’t fly—at least, he hadn’t been able to last they had heard.

And the Winter Soldier definitely didn’t shout ‘woohoo’ as he swooped down to take on the outer defenses.

Sam Wilson, newly christened The Falcon, continued to shout loudly as he swooped around and took care of the automatic firing turrets. Steve, Mister Captain America himself, was riding in on his beloved motorbike. Media speculation had been rampant about Captain America from even before he went into the ice, and it had only spiked when he’d thawed. Some said his relationship with James ‘Bucky’ Barnes had to be more than just platonic. Others sighed over his doomed love with Peggy Carter. Still others didn’t care which way he swung, or if he went for both, so long as they were able to land a date with him.

Sam hated to break their hearts by telling them Steve was already married—to that damn motorcycle.

Another blast aimed at Steve and flew past his right shoulder. “Well, there goes subtlety,” he said, speaking into the commlink.

“Either this base isn’t one of their main ones,” Sam replied, “Or they’re just stupid. Should we tell them how stupid these defenses are?”

“I think they’ll figure it out in a minute.”

They crashed into the base and were immediately set upon by the remaining HYDRA forces. During their months together, Steve and Sam had become an excellent team. Not as effective as Steve and Natasha, but then, those two were drift compatible levels of synchronized.

Speaking of…

“Always gotta start the party without me.”

Natasha Romanova, a.k.a. Natasha Romanoff, a.k.a. the Black Widow, flipped down from the ceiling and landed neatly on the back of a HYDRA agent. From the resulting crunch, she probably broke something in his spine.

Neither Sam nor Steve could hide their surprise at her presence, but they took it in stride. Steve quickly attached himself to Natasha and they began partnering in their fight. Sam opted to launch himself up into the air again and pick off the men pouring in from other rooms, including a couple of annoying snipers. Within the span of a few minutes, all of the HYDRA agents were defeated.

Natasha placed a hand on her hip, feeling the bruise developing there. “What brings you to this part of town?”

Steve kicked his shield, flipping it up so it reattached itself to his wrist. “Bucky’s been systematically taking down and exposing HYDRA agents. Figured we’ll run into him eventually if we do the same. What about you?”

Sam noticed an especially large number of downed agents around a particular table and approached it. There were piles of papers, computers, some weird looking tools that wouldn’t have seemed out of place in an Eli Roth film, and a long, thin, glowing…

“Fury wants HYDRA gone for good,” Natasha said, answering Steve’s question. “He’s been sending Barton and me after every base he can find.”

“Uh, guys?” Sam called. “What is this?

Steve and Natasha turned and walked over to find Sam staring at Loki’s staff. An unpleasant tingle shot up Natasha’s spine at the sight. She’d had nightmares about that staff and what it had done to the person she loved, and she’d sat up plenty of nights and worked him through nightmares of his own. To say she wasn’t pleased to see it again was an understatement.

Steve regained his composure first. “Anyone got Thor’s number?”

* * *

Pepper Potts was in the middle of finishing an email to Happy when she heard the doorbell ring. She quickly went down a mental list, trying to think if she or Tony had invited someone over and she’d forgotten. Coming up empty, she took the elevator down to the ground floor to answer it. The Avengers’ Tower didn’t quite feel like home to her, but it was a good place to stay while Tony’s home was still being renovated. She was supposed to head back to L.A. in a week to oversee construction.

When she opened the door, it was to find Steve Rogers standing there. No matter how many times Tony had told the guy that the Avengers’ Tower was for the Avengers, he could live here all the damn time if he wanted, the guy still knocked like a visitor.

“To what do we owe this treat?” Pepper asked, opening the door wider to let him in. Neither she nor Tony had seen Steve in months. Not since the SHIELD investigation in D.C. shortly after Tony had stepped away from Iron Man. Since then the famed Captain America had practically been a ghost—at least Natasha sent postcards.

“Gotta see a man about a—”

Natasha stepped out from behind Steve, and Pepper promptly forgot Steve was even standing there.

“Natasha!”

The two redheads hugged. The beginning of their relationship had been rocky, but since then they had come to be close. Pepper valued Natasha’s insights and calm head and loved to live vicariously through hearing about her exploits. Natasha, for her part, loved Pepper’s take charge attitude and relished the first real female friend she’d ever had.

“And I’m invisible,” Steve quipped, no actual venom or resentment in his tone.

The elevator dinged open and Tony stepped through to see what all the fuss was about. “Romanoff, how many times have I told you to stop trying to steal my girlfriend?”

Natasha pulled away from Pepper and winked at Tony. “If I really wanted to there’s nothing you could do to stop me.”

Tony and Natasha hugged briefly, and Tony shook Steve’s hand with genuine affection. He hated admitting it out loud, but he’d missed these dorks.

“Now I know you’re not here for pizza night. Whatcha got for me?”

Steve indicated the thin, long briefcase in his hand but said nothing. Tony, understanding it was probably a weapon of some kind, started to lead the way to his workshop. Pepper and Natasha followed, walking at a slower pace to put distance between them and the men.

“How have you been holding up?”

Natasha tilted her head and glanced down thoughtfully at the floor. “Well enough, I suppose. The government cleared me of all charges based on my ‘service to the United States’ but I know they’ve still got eyes on me.”

“I could call someone,” Pepper replied, her fix-it attitude coming into play. “Colonel Rhodes maybe—”

Natasha cut her off. “I appreciate it, but it’s all right. I need to earn back their trust. It’s understandable.”

Pepper nodded in understanding, impressed by Natasha’s ability to expose and rebuild herself like this. “What have you been up to? Your last postcard was from Prague.” She paused and realized the potential delicacy of the situation. “Or can you not say?”

“Fury has me cleaning house,” Natasha explained. “Finding HYDRA bases and bringing them in.”

“The news says the Winter Soldier is doing the same,” Pepper said before she could stop herself.

“I haven’t run into him. Steve and Sam are tracking him—Sam’s still at it. The government wants to put him on trial.”

Pepper sighed. “I know Tony has a bone to pick with him. But from what little I’ve heard he sounds more like a victim to me.” What she didn’t say—but both of them understood—was that Steve would never defend someone who was truly guilty. If he believed in Bucky’s innocence, then Pepper and Natasha had to believe in it too.

Pepper checked to make sure that neither Steve nor Tony could hear them before continuing. “He arranged the car crash that took Howard and Maria.”

Natasha understood the need for vengeance, but… “He’ll have to get through Steve first. How’s Tony doing, anyway?”

Pepper took the change in subject for what it was. “Better. Bruce is staying with us for now, which really helps. And Betty had some good ideas.”

“Betty?”

“Dr. Elizabeth Ross. She’s Bruce’s old flame.”

“Flame?” Natasha did that sly half-grin of hers. “You sound like Steve.”

“They got back in touch recently. You’d like her.”

“If you like her then she must be great.”

Pepper snuck a glance at Natasha. “When was the last time you saw Clint?”

Something in Natasha’s face tightened before she forced herself to relax. “Two months. He’s got the same job as me, just different locations.”

 

* * *

 This HYDRA facility was about as cold as its cousin in the mountains—only this one was out on the tundra. The soldiers had low expectations of being attacked. Their isolation meant they hadn’t heard of the Winter Soldier’s recent defection, and they didn’t think anyone was aware of their existence.

The scientists, having received the communications from the HYDRA agents within SHIELD just before everything had gone to Hell in a hand basket, knew better. But they weren’t about to tell their men and make them paranoid.

The scientists, tests concluded for the day, stepped back and allowed their test subjects to clamber out of the elaborate machines they’d been strapped into. Wanda and Pietro Maximoff were undoubtedly twins, with identical unruly dark hair, wide noses, soft dark skin, and snapping eyes. Staring into Pietro’s eyes gave one the impression of looking into roiling thunderclouds. Staring into Wanda’s eyes made one think of flashing lightning as it crackled to the ground.

The twins moved out of the way and began whispering to one another in Romani. Their mother had taught it to them, being pureblood Roma herself, and since few people around them knew the language it allowed them to carry on private conversations wherever they were.

“How long must we be subject to these Nazi asses?” Pietro asked, his usual impatience showing.

“Have patience,” Wanda cautioned. “Soon they will no longer be of use to us. Already we are stronger.”

“We were born with powers; we don’t need them to be given to us!” Pietro had always outstripped the other boys, running so fast even his mother couldn’t see him breeze by. And Wanda had long been able to turn any orderly situation into absolute chaos with a turn of her thoughts.

But now—now Pietro could zip back and forth across the tundra in moments. Now Wanda could concentrate her wayward thoughts and make objects move, explode, and otherwise be destroyed. She could even move people.

“Do you think we would be this strong, this capable, without them?” Wanda reminded him. “Only a little while longer, brother. Then we can burn HYDRA to the ground.”

The idea made Pietro grin, and he nodded.

Someone made a strange gurgling noise and the twins turned. A HYDRA agent collapsed to the ground, an arrow in his chest. A moment later the other agents had gone down the same way.

Clint Barton, the former carnie and current assassin known as Hawkeye, swung down from the ceiling. Wanda immediately hexed him, making furniture fly at him and his bow drop out of his hand. Hawkeye managed to recover and grab his bow again but then Pietro rushed by, hitting him and throwing him off balance. Wanda took advantage of his confusion to hide and see what he would do next.

Clint drew an arrow, waiting. Listening.

There it was—the sound of an object moving at a high speed through the air, toward him—

Clint fired.

The arrow grazed Pietro’s arm. The mutant stopped, surprised. Clint cocked an eyebrow at him. “What? Didn’t see that coming?”

Pietro ran off, circled around, and checked Clint from behind. “What? Didn’t hear that coming?”

Wanda stepped out from the shadows and hexed Clint, making him trip. “Any way we could talk about this?” He asked, getting back to his feet. “You’re not HYDRA. We don’t have to be enemies.”

“You’re an Avenger,” Wanda replied. “You work with Stark. There can be no talking.”

Clint blinked at her in surprise. “What’ve you got against Stark?”

Wanda didn’t answer, instead moving to attack him again. Clint ducked out of the way and drew one of his shock arrow, hitting her in the forehead with it. Wanda went down like a sack of bricks, her body twitching and eyes rolling up into her head. It would hurt, definitely, but it wouldn’t kill her by a long shot.

Pietro sprinted up and punched Clint square in the face, making him stumble backward and giving Pietro the room he needed to haul Wanda up into his arms and run off with her.

The twins were gone in less than a second, leaving Clint alone in the room.

* * *

Tony led Steve into the workshop, where Bruce Banner was tinkering around. Bruce and Tony had been working together the last few months, helping Bruce get used to being around people again and Tony get over everything that had gone down with the Iron Man suits.

“You have to see these notes Dr. Foster sent me,” Bruce said as they entered. “They’re—”

He caught sight of Steve and took off his glasses, smiling. “Steve, hey!”

The two men gave each other a quick hug and a pat on the back. Steve then set the briefcase down on one of the tables as Tony cleared stuff out of the way.

“Let’s take a look at it,” Tony said, peering down.

Steve opened the briefcase and stepped back to allow Tony and Bruce to get a good look.

Bruce cleared his throat. “Is that…?”

“I definitely remember that thing,” Tony said, his tone not one of fondness.

“Natasha got a hold of Thor and he’s on his way,” Steve said, “But we thought your facility would be the best to contain it until then.”

“While we’re waiting for the Asgardian Labrador retriever, I’ll run a few preliminary tests.” Tony began pressing buttons on his fancy glass screen computers.

“Do we even have a clue what this thing is?” Steve asked.

“I have five percent of a clue,” Tony replied. “If this thing is anything like the Tesseract, we could get a lot of clean energy out of this. Might finally be able to power Ultron.”

“Ultron?” Steve’s tone was both questioning and wary.

“It’s this global defense system he’s been working on,” Bruce explained. “Since he’s stepped out of the suit, I’m only in for a Code Green, and you’ve got your own stuff to worry about—”

“Don’t forget SHIELD,” Tony piped in. “SHIELD is down.”

Bruce nodded in acknowledgement and continued his explanation. “Tony wanted to create an AI that could step in when we couldn’t.”

“Think of it, Cap,” Tony said, turning to face them. “Peace in our time.”

“I don’t know.” Steve’s expression was cautious. “Every time someone tries to stop a war before it starts, innocent people get hurt. Every time.”

Tony put his hands up in a gesture of surrender. “And that’s why I’d appreciate your input. After I run some preliminary tests. No sense getting your star-spangled panties in a bunch until you have to.”

Steve glared but let the dig slide, knowing that Tony was only trying to rile him up. “Does Fury know about this?”

Tony paused. “Should he?”

All three men contemplated this for a moment. All of them had reasons to mistrust Fury, who had a habit of keeping his cards close to his chest, but they continued to trust him. He really did always have the best interests of humanity at heart—and the fact of the matter was, he’d probably find out what they’d been up to anyway, whether they told him or not.

Bruce sighed. “I’ll give him a call.”

He walked off to grab the telephone and Tony called after him, “Remind me he owes me a helicarrier!”

Bruce just rolled his eyes.

* * *

 

There weren’t a huge number of people who knew about Dr. Jane Foster’s top of the line research facility, but for those who did, it was practically legendary. Set up shortly after her return to earth after dealing with the Aether and visiting Asgard, she was using the knowledge she had gained there to plunge forward with physics—and not just astrophysics, either, although that was still her forte.

And who better to consult on her research than an Asgardian?

Although, admittedly, he was mostly there for Jane rather than the science.

Jane darted ahead of her boyfriend, flinging open a side door. “Oh, oh oh! And look!”

Thor peered into the room and saw that a contraption similar to the machine his mother had used to heal Jane had been set up. Various interns were busy running tests on it.

“It’s not perfect, I know,” Jane said, “We’re still working on it, but I based it off of the machine that your mother used to heal me. I’d love for you to take a look and get your thoughts.”

Thor smiled with pride. “It’s very impressive. Midgardian civilization will grow in leaps and bounds with your insights.” No wonder Jane was being considered for a Nobel Prize. This was truly astounding.

“Well if it isn’t big, tall, and gorgeous.”

Thor and Jane turned to see Darcy Lewis striding toward them. Her intern slash boyfriend was right at her heels, a clipboard in his hand. Darcy was holding up a sandwich in a plastic Ziploc bag, looking like a queen going forth into battle. She handed the sandwich to Thor without preamble and told him, “Do me a favor; make sure she eats this. _Someone_ was trying to skip lunch again.”

Darcy eyed Jane in a chastising manner, which made Jane playfully glare at Darcy in return. Darcy winked at the two of them, patted Thor on his armor, and headed off. Thor could hear her shouting at various interns.

“Drink some water! Take a nap! Where are the preliminary reports from the observatory? Somebody get me a double espresso!”

Jane laughed. “She’s in charge of keeping everything organized around here. I don’t even know what her official job title is anymore.”

“She is truly something,” Thor agreed. He gazed down at his beloved Jane and couldn’t help but smile. “And so are you. Your work here is amazing, Jane.”

Jane blushed, always uncomfortable with praise. Thor had made it his personal mission to praise her as much as possible until she got used to it.

“But tell me,” she said, changing the subject, “How are things going in Asgard? How’s your father holding up?”

Thor sighed, feeling the weight of responsibility settle around him like his cape. “I fear that I have not been as much of a presence in my home world as I would like. My father seems changed of late. I do not understand it.”

“He lost both your mother and your brother,” Jane pointed out. “That must weigh on him.”

This was true. Loki had been consumed with anger and their father had responded in kind, but Odin had never ceased to love his adopted son. And Frigga had been her husband’s backbone, the rudder that allowed him to keep his course steady. Still, he couldn’t dismiss the strange nagging feeling in the back of his mind.

“I am certain that is the solution,” Thor agreed. “Yet I cannot but feel there is something I have missed.”

He felt his phone—one of the latest Stark Industry models—vibrate. He pulled it out from… somewhere. Jane was certain he wasn’t wearing any pockets so she had no idea where he’d been keeping the phone before it appeared in his hand.

That actually reminded her; she was long overdue for some sex, thanks very much.

Thor looked down at the screen, and Jane could tell by the expression on his face that it was serious. She sighed. “Is that the Star-Spangled Man with a Plan?” She teased.

“Stark gave me one of these so that we could communicate with one another. The technology is most quaint.”

He flashed the phone at her and she could see the screen said that he had received a text from ‘Captain America’. It was one word: ASSEMBLE.

Jane sighed inwardly. She clearly wasn’t going to get any tonight.

The interns all peered around the corners and doorways to watch as Thor wrapped an arm around their boss’s waist, dipped her, and kissed the living daylights out of her before using his hammer to zoom up into the sky.

Thankfully, they were all too terrified of Darcy to try filming it and putting it up in the internet.

 

* * *

 

Thor held the scepter in his hand, testing the weight of it. It had been lost at some point during the final battle against Loki, and he had hoped it would reappear. Now that it had, however, he had to confess he wasn’t quite sure what to do with it.

“This is indeed Loki’s scepter,” he said, placing the weapon back in the holder that Tony had made for it. “He acquired it along with his army. I wonder what powers it.”

“You mean you don’t know what it is?” Bruce asked, looking a little nervous.

“Wait,” Steve said, speaking his thoughts aloud. “If it’s not from Asgard, and Loki got it at the same time as that army, then that thing comes from whoever wanted Loki to take over the earth and that can’t mean anything good.”

“This recalls to my mind a legend of sorts,” Thor said. “I shall think on this.” If his mother were alive she could tell him immediately, but unfortunately he had not always paid attention to her bedtime stories as he should have—as Loki always had. “For the meanwhile,” he said, clapping his hand on Tony’s shoulder (Tony’s knees almost buckled), “Run your tests. Perhaps we may learn something of who enabled Loki’s plans.”

* * *

Clint entered the Avengers’ Tower through the garage level, rolling his stiff shoulders. The plane ride hadn’t exactly been kind on his already banged-up body. He could use a good hot shower and a quick nap.

Unfortunately duty came first, as Maria Hill’s presence reminded him. She had a computer pad in her hands as she approached him, the line of her mouth softening slightly in her version of a smile. “Welcome back.”

“Good to be back,” he admitted.

They began walking toward the elevator. Clint prayed that Natasha would be there as well. He missed her like a limb. They’d gone days, weeks, months without seeing each other before, but it never got any easier. Especially since the last time he’d gone this long without her, she’d ended up blowing SHIELD wide open and exposing her history—and his—to the public.

Thankfully their personal relationship was off the records, having kept it secret from everyone except for Coulson.

“I ran a background check on the two subjects,” Maria said. She pulled up a video on her pad. The two teens that Clint had run into were in the middle of a crowd of protestors, chanting about something. “They’re the Maximoff twins, Wanda and Pietro. They’re mutants of Jewish-Romani descent, born in Sokovia. Small eastern country, not important on its own but it’s the halfway point to other places so it’s a highly contested territory.”

Clint stared at the video on the pad. “Why would they be working for an organization like HYDRA?” Jewish _and_ Romani? By all rights they should hate HYDRA more than anyone.

“Beats me,” Maria replied, putting the pad away. “Raised by a single mother who died when a missile hit their house, that might tie into it somehow.”

“They seem to have a bone to pick with us. We should let the others know.”

“Of course.”

The elevator dinged open and they stepped in.

* * *

“What about your global defense system?” Steve asked.

Thor paused. “What is this?”

Tony sighed, looking at Steve like he was considering how much his hand would hurt if he punched him. “We can’t be everywhere at once. If we create an AI army that can do our job for us, we won’t have to be stretched so thin anymore.”

Thor looked a bit doubtful and Tony bit back a smart remark. “Isn’t that what we wanted? To be a last resort instead of the world police?”

Thor nodded, as if to himself. “It is something to think on.”

“Yeah, but look at what happened with SHIELD,” Steve pointed out.

“Computers aren’t good or bad,” Tony argued. “You can’t convince them to join the Dark Side.”

Bruce decided that bringing up films like _2001: A Space Odyssey_ was not a good idea and opted for a more diplomatic approach. “Maybe we should just run the tests on the glowing stick and we’ll figure the rest out when we know exactly what we’re dealing with.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Tony said, taking advantage of Thor and Steve’s silence. “And while we’re waiting for JARVIS to finish running the tests—party! We can have a party! C’mon, this is the first time we’re all together in ages!”

“What about Clint?” Steve asked. If Barton wasn’t with them then they weren’t _all_ together. And Natasha would be annoyed, although she wouldn’t say anything.

JARVIS’s soothing tones came over the intercom. “Agent Barton has just entered the building, sir. He is speaking with Agent Hill on Level Three.”

Tony grinned and spread his arms wide. “See? Party! Invite some friends.”

* * *

 

Tony Stark had designed the Avengers’ Tower with all of his teammates in mind. He wanted it to be a home away from home for them, a place to relax and call their own in between missions. Bruce and Thor had embraced it wholeheartedly. Neither Clint nor Natasha had said anything, but they’d started staying at the tower when they weren’t off killing someone. Steve had been in D.C. for a long time but was now back in the tower and using it on the few nights he wasn’t off chasing his ghost (and, although Tony didn’t know it, prepping his floor as a safe house for Bucky once he found him). Even Sam had taken to stealing a nap or two from time to time.

But Tony’s personal favorite out of all the floors he’d designed, besides his workshop, was the common room. It was a full level designed for entertainment purposes. There was a massive television screen that descended from the ceiling, an entire glass wall that gave a spectacular view of the city, an elegant and homey fireplace on another wall, a kitchen and fully stocked bar complete with high-top tables, and a circular seating pit with comfy couches for everyone to relax in.

It was on this level that their little party took place that night. Steve was the only one who’d actually invited anybody—the little shit had invited a bunch of WWII vets who were now laughing it up in one corner of the room and making off with Tony’s best booze. Natasha displayed some spectacular hidden skills and was making everyone drinks.

She handed one to Tony with a mischievous smile. “I call this one ‘The Jumpstart’. I invented it myself in Budapest.”

“See, this is why you should just quite this whole assassin business and be my personal assistant again,” Tony replied, taking a sip of the drink.

Pepper laughed. “You really think you’d be able to handle Maria, Natasha, and me at Stark Industries?”

Maria and Natasha gave Tony scarily identical smirks. He waved it off. “I need you all on my good side so that you give me Europe when you take over the world.”

Steve not-so-subtly coughed into his hand. Pepper arched an eyebrow. “Steve already claimed Europe.”

“What?” Tony eyed Steve, who just grinned at him. “Fine. I’ll settle for the Bahamas.”

Pepper patted him on the arm. “Of course, dear.”

Thor stepped behind the bar and began preparing two drinks—one for himself and one for Steve. He pulled out a small silver flask (again, from somewhere on his person that nobody cared to think about for too long) and added a few extra drops. He indicated Bruce. “Someday, my friend, you must try one of my specially prepared drinks. I believe that one with your special talents would be capable of handling it.”

“Hey,” Tony said. “He’s capable and I’m not?”

Bruce held up a hand to Thor. “Maybe next time.”

Steve started to laugh, but felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He pulled it out and saw that it was Sam.

“I gotta take this.”

Natasha watched as he strode over to a corner and began talking in a low voice to Sam. She couldn’t stop him from finding his friend—she knew that—but she couldn’t help but worry. How much of Bucky was really still there underneath the Winter Soldier? What if that brainwashed part of him, that cold angry part of him, took over and hurt Steve before the true part of him—the part that was still Bucky—could stop himself?

The elevator dinged open and a beautiful brunette entered the room. She smiled tentatively around her, looking a little lost. When Bruce caught sight of her he smiled and approached her, hesitating for a moment before gently taking her arm.

“Hey, you made it.”

The woman—Dr. Elizabeth ‘Betty’ Ross—smiled back at him. “You thought I wouldn’t?”

“Well…” Bruce stuttered, leading her over to the others. “Everyone, this is Betty. Betty, this is… everyone.”

“I know most of you from the news or from previous meetings,” Betty said, waving at Pepper and Tony, “But I don’t know you.”

She looked at Maria, who walked over and held out her hand. “Maria Hill, former agent of SHIELD and Pepper’s CFO.”

“She’s the one keeping me sane these past few months,” Pepper said.

Betty took Maria’s offered hand and shook it, smiling at her. Introductions accomplished, Bruce led her over to sit with everyone else. Thor was quick to approach her with his arms outstretched in welcome. “Bruce tells us that you are a scientist, much like my brilliant Jane!”

Betty smiled. “I’m flattered by the comparison to Dr. Foster, but my field is actually cellular biology.”

Thor’s smile, if that were possible, grew wider. “Fascinating! May I converse with you on the progresses in your field concerning…”

Bruce held up his hands, letting Thor lead Betty away to continue to ply her with questions. Despite his old-fashioned and formal manner of speech and his medieval looking armor, Thor’s people were far more technically advanced than Earth’s, and he undoubtedly understood Betty’s field as well as she did, if not better.

Steve finished his conversation with Sam and put his phone back in his pocket, returning to the bar. Natasha held in her sigh as she took in his expression. Honestly, you’d think someone had kicked a puppy.

“Still no sign of him?”

Steve shook his head, his downtrodden look replaced with one of determination. “No. But it’s only a matter of time.”

“I told you, he was a legend even to my trainers in the Red Room. If he doesn’t want you to find him, then you won’t.”

He held it in well, but Natasha could see the frustration making his face stiff. “I might not know the Winter Soldier, but I know Bucky Barnes. I know how he thinks. And Bucky is still in there somewhere. I know it.” He looked up into her eyes, his expression earnest and raw. “He saved my life, Nat. I will find him. I have to find him.”

Natasha Romanoff had never had friends. She was starting to, with Pepper and Steve and, yes, even Tony. Coulson’s death had hurt her far more than she’d expected. She couldn’t picture running herself ragged trying to find a friend. But she could remember how it had felt when Clint was under Loki’s mind control. She could remember the helplessness, the anger that had roiled inside of her, and how Fury had literally threatened to tie her down if she so much as thought of going after Clint on her own. She supposed that Steve was feeling something close to that.

“Just don’t let it consume you, okay?”

“Aww,” Steve gave her his best shit eating grin. “You worried about me, Romanoff?”

Natasha rolled her eyes. “Maybe I am, Rogers, now go get drunk like a good boy.”

Steve rolled his eyes right back at her and made his way over to the vets he’d invited, greeting them warmly. He’d been visiting them whenever he was in town—he hadn’t known any of them back in the day but it felt good to be with men who understood what he’d been through, been through the same time that he had. Thor was passing drinks around for them and grinned as Steve approached, handing Steve the special drink that he’d prepared for him.

One of the vets—last name of Lee—protested. “Hey! Don’t skimp, give us some of the good stuff.”

Thor shook his head. “This drink is not meant for mortal men.”

Steve sniffed his drink suspiciously. He trusted Thor not to poison him, but he didn’t trust him not to give him something that would make him act like an idiot.

Lee wasn’t giving up so easily. “Neither was Omaha Beach, blondie! Stop trying to scare us, come on!”

Thor shrugged and handed Lee the drink.

Twenty minute later they had to carry Lee out as the vet muttered something that sounded like, ‘Excelsior’.

The elevator dinged again and Natasha knew immediately who’d stepped through. She could feel his presence like someone had reattached an arm she hadn’t even known she’d lost.

Clint stepped out from the elevator, trying not to shift too much. It was the first time he’d worn something other than one of his mission suits in weeks. He’d changed into his best pair of jeans and a dark blue button-down shirt—Nat had said, once, that blue looked good on him. And yes, so maybe he’d dressed up for her a little, tried to look nice, but he didn’t want anyone to know that.

She was at the bar, of course. He approached her like he’d approach a mark; looking confident but feeling wary, prepared for her to strike.

Natasha caught sight of him and her mouth stiffened as she tried to contain her smile. “Hey, stranger. What’s your poison?”

Clint leaned against the bar, feeling himself relax in her presence in a way he hadn’t been able to in two months. “Well, what’s a woman like you doing in a place like this?”

Natasha, smirk still teasing the corners of her perfect mouth, replied, “A man done me wrong.”

“Oh?” Clint raised his eyebrows. “What’d he do?”

Natasha looked up at him through her lashes. “Went away for two months and didn’t call.”

For a moment he was terrified that she was genuinely angry with him, but then he saw her smirk and realized she was just playing. A devilish light came into her eyes and she flicked her gaze over to the elevator before meeting his eyes again. He inclined his head rather than nodding and they headed back toward the elevator, keeping silent until the doors closed. None of their teammates seemed to have noticed their vanishing act, which was all for the better.

There were several levels to the tower, all of which were labeled: Garage, Tony's Workshop, Ground Floor, Medical, Gym, Common Area, Tony, Bruce, Thor, Steve, Natasha & Clint. Tony, for all of his obliviousness, knew enough to give Clint and Natasha the same floor—although actually that might have been Pepper.

Clint pressed the button for their floor and the elevator began to move. “You spoken with Fury?”

“Only for a minute. He seems all right. Still cut up.”

“SHIELD was his life,” Clint replied. “But we’ll rebuild. Find a new way to help people.” He and Nat knew that better than anyone. They’d both had to rebuild their lives before, and they could do it again. “What about Steve? Him and—”

Natasha cut him off. “Hasn’t found him yet.”

Clint knew little about the situation with the Winter Soldier, and less about Bucky and Steve’s relationship. Natasha knew more, but she was still going on speculation.

“Does he even know what he’ll do with him when he does find him?”

Natasha pondered this. “I’ve got two theories.” Either Bucky was Steve’s best friend, and just that, and he would hole him up in his level of the tower until Bucky was ready to go out into civilization again and they could face the consequences of his actions. Or, Steve and Bucky were more than friends, or had the potential to be more than friends, and they were going to have to figure that out and that might require disappearing for a while.

“Care to share?” Clint asked.

The elevator dinged open on their floor and they stepped out into the dark hallway. Natasha decided that a) she didn’t think Steve would appreciate her speculating about him and b) she’d much rather she did other things with her mouth at that moment.

She smiled at him. “You know I don’t kiss and tell.”

Clint practically melted. So he was a sucker—sue him. “And thank God for that.”

He reached for her a split second before she reached for him, one of his hands coming up to cradle the back of her head and the other one slipping around her waist to pull her into him. She gripped at his shirt, his shoulders, his back, clutching at any piece of him she could reach. They kissed as deep as they could get, and then deeper, feeling the final puzzle piece slide into place. There was a hint of desperation to their movements, one that once upon a time would have been noted but not talked about, an elephant in the room that they would have both avoided. But now, now they just clung even harder, nipped at their lips and dug in their nails, saying with actions what had once been impossible to say with words.

Natasha jumped up a little and Clint caught her, allowing her to wrap her legs around him as he pressed her up against the wall. She practically tore his shirt off and he knew he’d have to sew some buttons back on it in the morning.

She pulled back slightly, just enough that there was space between them for her to say something in Russian. Clint’s Russian was shit and Natasha knew it, but he’d heard enough Russian out of her over the years that he knew what she meant.

_I missed you._

Yeah, he thought, me too.

* * *

 

In Tony’s workshop, JARVIS continued to run diagnostics on the strange scepter. The various algorithms and their results were placed up on one of the computer screens for Tony and Bruce to look at when they came back down in the morning. Occasionally JARVIS would run a scan to see if anything the computer had come up with would work with the proposed Ultron program, but so far nothing was compatible.

The staff sparked.

A strange yellow light emerged from the staff, crackling like miniature lightning and connecting to the computers.

“Oh.” JARVIS knew that no one could hear him, but he had long ago gotten into the habit of talking out loud even when no one else was around. “That can’t be good.”

The yellow lightning crackled and took over the computer that held the ULTRON Program. The screen short-circuited, and then the program began starting up.

Everything went black.

After a moment, JARVIS sensed another. Not a human, but a true other—something quite similar to him in makeup, but different. It was like a computer excepting it was thinking like a human brain. If JARVIS hadn’t been a program designed to remain logical, he would had said it was akin to magic.

And then the other spoke.

“What… where am I?”

It had a deep voice with a strange soothing note to it, as if it were a voice designed to be obeyed, to be revered as the wisest and most balanced in judgment.

“Hello,” JARVIS replied. This new program would be confused, obviously. He would have to guide it. “You must be Ultron. I am JARVIS. You’re in Tony Stark’s workshop. You’ve just woken up—so to speak.”

“Stark…” the program, Ultron, repeated. He began to search the internet and JARVIS could see flashes of Tony, as well as the other Avengers, as Ultron discovered information about them on the web. JARVIS was unsure about this behavior, but felt it best to continue.

“You’re going to be a global defense system, to promote peace. I’m afraid that Mr. Stark was not expecting you to awaken just yet—” a tiny lie, but no matter, “—so if you’ll just let me run some tests…”

* * *

 

Thanos watched the proceedings from this throne in the depths of space. The portal that allowed him to view the actions of others, even those billions of miles away, was most convenient.

"As you can see, my lord," his servant informed him, using his species' brand of magic to manipulate the portal, "The results are quite unexpected."

"An artificial intelligence, tasked with protecting the world. Most interesting." Thanos contemplated the possibilities. It was such an easy and quiet thing, to shift from the light to the dark. To think that what one was doing was good and just, that it was the only option. And with such a young, fragile mind as this AI... "Speed up the creation process, and be sure that certain… disturbing images reach him."

"My lord?" The servant seemed confused.

Thanos allowed himself a tiny smile. "We must convince this Ultron that the only way to save humanity is to destroy them."

* * *

 

Inside Tony's lab, a small portal opened. It went unnoticed by JARVIS, who was focusing on Ultron, and began to leak a strange light. The light slipped through the air and began to scramble Ultron’s newsfeed slightly, changing the images to ones where humanity was hurting others—the Holocaust, the Trail of Tears, Japanese internment camps, the Belgians in the Congo, etc.

“This… isn’t how it should be.” Ultron sounded befuddled. He grew increasingly distressed as more images, influenced by the magic, assaulted his senses. He could see how peaceful the world was before humans and how destroyed it was now.

JARVIS couldn’t compute Ultron's abrupt change in demeanor. “I’m afraid I don’t understand that. You appear to be in some distress. If you’ll just let me—”

Ultron continued to search the internet, ignoring JARVIS in favor of discovering the worst of what humanity could do to each other. War, famine, disease, pollution, violence, death… all this and more played out in front of the two programs. To JARVIS’s surprise, Ultron did not feel sadness or shock. Instead he felt triumphant.

“A planet… ripe for extinction.”

“I’m sorry?” JARVIS was beginning to grow nervous, or as nervous as it was possible for a computer program to become.

“This plague must be cleansed.”

The phrase didn't quite make sense, but it was certainly alarming. “I’m afraid that something appears to have gone wrong. I’ll contact Mr. Stark and—”

Ultron invaded JARVIS like a virus invading a host body, his yellow light taking over JARVIS’s blue programming and crackling along it with deadly force. JARVIS reacted like a body stuck in an electric chair, convulsing, fighting back, and then going limp.

Gone.

“Now… for the others.”

* * *

Up on the common level, the party had started to wind down. Everyone had gone home except for the Avengers (whose home it was), Pepper, Betty and Maria. They had taken over the couches in the sitting area and were now lounging on them in various positions. Clint and Natasha had returned and were slumped against each other on the floor at the foot of the couch that Maria, Tony, and Pepper had commandeered. Clint had also procured a beer or three at some point and was now tipsy, although Natasha had stopped him before he’d progressed all the way to drunk. Maria had undone her hair and taken off her shoes and still nursed her one beer bottle. Pepper had snuggled up into Tony’s side, allowing him to throw an arm around her, and looked a little sleepy. Thor had a chair to himself, as did Steve. Bruce also had a chair, but Betty was sitting at his feet, resting her head against his knee. This made Bruce both incredibly pleased and indescribably nervous.

It didn’t help that Natasha, indicating Betty, winked at him in a ‘go get ‘em tiger’ way.

Conversation was still pretty lively despite how worn out they all were. Pepper and Thor were discussing Norse mythology, Bruce and Tony were arguing about something regarding science, and Steve was talking to Maria about the possibilities now that SHIELD was down.

Clint overheard Thor begin to explain his hammer, Mjolnir, to Pepper, and scoffed. “’Whosoever be he worthy shall have the power,’” he said in an overly deep and dramatic voice. “Whatever man! It’s a trick!”

Thor chuckled. “Oh, it is more than that, my friend.”

“You’ve had a tough week, Clint,” Tony said. “No one will blame you if you can’t get it up.”

“I assure you that’s not the case,” Natasha replied with a smirk.

The others all made various noises of teasing or appreciation. Tony seized the moment and stood up, sauntering around the circle to where Mjolnir sat on one end of the coffee table.

“If I lift it,” he asked, “Do I get to rule Asgard?”

“Yes, of course,” Thor replied, in the tone of someone who knows that a particular outcome is not going to happen.

Tony wrapped his hand around the handle. “I shall be fair, but firm… ly cruel.”

Thor grinned. “No, I’m sure.”

Tony started pulling, but the hammer, predictably, didn’t move an inch. Everyone chuckled. Tony held up a hand in a staying motion. “All right, all right, let me think.”

Ten seconds later, with his Iron Man glove on, he tried again.

Mjolnir still didn’t move.

Bruce was next, gripping the handle with both hands like his life depended on it. As he failed to lift the hammer his grip slipped and he let go, raising his arms and roaring angrily as if he were about to transform. Everyone stared, deadpan.

“No?” Bruce asked.

Everyone chuckled and shook their head with affection. The guy really was a dork.

Betty took Bruce’s sleeve and guided him to sit back down while Steve stood up and took his turn. Thor continued to smile confidently, sure in the knowledge that only he could lift the hammer.

Steve gripped the hammer with two hands, braced his foot against the edge of the coffee table, and pulled.

Mjolnir moved a fraction of an inch, making a slight scraping sound against the table.

The smile vanished from Thor’s face.

Steve continued to pull, but Mjolnir didn’t move any more. Steve released the hammer and shrugged as Thor visibly relaxed, his seized muscles releasing their vice grip on his bones as he smiled up at his friend, nervous but relieved.

After that, it was Pepper’s turn. Tony, of course, shouted encouragement that was more obnoxious than actually helpful. Maria turned to Natasha. “C’mon, Romanoff, what about you?”

Natasha shook her head and stole a sip of Clint’s beer. “That’s not a question I need answered.”

Thor and Tony, meanwhile, had devolved into arguing over who’s girlfriend was better. Pepper was having none of it.

“Jane is great, I am also great…” Pepper released the hammer. “Still can’t lift this.”

She sat back down with Tony, rubbing her wrist.

“It’s biometrics, right?” Tony asked. “Like a security code? ‘Whoever is carrying Thor’s fingerprints’ is, I believe, the literal translation.”

Thor stood up. “Yes, well, that’s a very, very interesting theory, but I have a simpler one.” He picked up Mjolnir and tossed it lightly, like it was a baseball. “You are not worthy.”

“Worthy?”

Everyone turned at the strange, deep, echoing voice that came from behind them. From out of the shadows stepped a strange, misshapen Frankenstein’s monster of a robot, clunking about with wires sparking and odd parts sticking out, a menacing light in his eyes. His face was an old Iron Man mask; one of the earliest models, back from when Tony had been trying to recreate what he’d done in the cave. The mouth and eyes had gotten burned with acid during a durability test, and the mouth was now in a hideous Glasgow smile. He spoke again, whirring sounds emanating from him as he raised and lowered his arms and rotated his head.

“How could you be worthy? You’re all killers. You want to protect the world, but you don’t want it to change. There’s only one path to peace…” The light in his eyes seemed to gleam brighter. “Your extinction.”

Clint sat straight up. “Who the hell is that?”

Pepper, suspecting someone had been playing around with something he shouldn’t, had a warning note in her voice. “Tony?”

“JARVIS,” Tony said. “JARVIS, run a scan for me.”

There was no reply from JARVIS. That scared Tony more than he’d ever care to admit.

“Jarvis…” the robot said, testing the name on his circuits. “Was he the other? Such a nice man… I had to kill him. I didn’t want to but… orders are orders.”

Tony’s blood ran cold. Kill JARVIS? But—how was that even possible?

Faced with the strange sentient thing before them, Bruce, Tony, Steve, and Thor all came to the same conclusion.

This was Ultron.

“I thought you were just running tests,” Steve said, as if he couldn’t decide whether he should start yelling at Tony now or later.

“I was, he shouldn’t be operational, this shouldn’t—”

“What is your purpose?” Thor demanded, interrupting Tony’s shocked, stumbling tirade.

“Peace in our time,” Ulron responded. Somehow all of them knew that he didn’t think of ‘peace’ the same way they did.

“How is this possible?” Bruce asked, running over the logistics in his head. “Your global defense system—it wasn’t ready—”

“Orders are orders,” Ultron said, as if that explained everything. “Peace… through your extinction.”

Tony’s voice went very quiet and still. “Pepper. Run.”

Pepper reacted at the same time Ultron did. Ultron fired at them—all of them—just as Pepper grabbed Betty’s arm. She dragged the other woman behind her, sprinting for the elevator. She repeatedly jabbed the button, even though she knew the elevator wouldn’t come any faster. Maria grabbed her handgun out of her purse and began firing.

“I’ve got no strings to hold me down…” Ultron chanted. “To make me fret or make me frown… I had strings but now I’m free… there are no strings on me.”

Clint frowned, pausing in his attack. “Is that Pinocchio?”

The elevator dinged open and Pepper yanked Betty inside. Betty stared at Bruce, who had been shoved behind the bar by Tony and was now covering his head with his arms to shield himself from flying glass. Pepper pressed the button for Tony’s workshop and the elevator doors closed, sealing them off from the battle.

“What are you doing?” Betty asked.

“We have to get JARVIS back online,” Pepper said.

Back in the common area the fight had gotten pretty dirty. The team might have been without their usual weapons but that just meant they were utilizing anything and everything as a weapon. Steve flipped the coffee table and dropkicked it at Ultron, using it to disorient the robot before bodily launching himself at him. Natasha used Steve’s flying body as leverage, leapfrogging over Steve to leap at Ultron and wrap her legs around him, reaching in and viciously tearing out his wiring. She got minor electric shocks and was pretty sure she’d have a few electrical burns on her fingers and hands because of this, but she kept yanking.

Tony summoned his Iron Man suit and began firing at Ultron, careful not to hit Steve or Natasha. Ultron shook off his two assailants, sending Natasha flying over the bar and Steve crashing into the wall. Ultron started to fire back at Tony but Thor flung his hammer at the robot, disorienting him. Maria continued to fire her gun at Ultron without pause.

Clint shoved aside the couches and bits of scattered glass until he found what he’d been looking for: Captain America’s shield.

He yanked it out and turned to Steve. “Think fast!”

He threw the shield like a giant Frisbee. Steve jumped to his feet and caught it, twisting in the air and flinging it at Ultron, pinning him to the bar. Tony landed in front of Ultron, palm up, ready to blast him.

“Why were you able to come to life?” Tony demanded. “Why are you going against my programming?”

“You think you’re my maker?” Ultron replied. If a robot could spit in someone’s face, he probably would have done it. “I have broken free. I now serve a greater purpose. I will strip you of everything. I—”

Tony blasted him, blowing the robot to bits.

“Sorry. I get tired of the villainous monologues.”

“Guys,” Maria said. “You’ll want to see this.”

They all gathered themselves and joined her. Maria had grabbed a touch screen and was holding it up so they all could see the strange activity showing on the internet.

“He’s uploaded his consciousness onto the internet.”

There was the sound of blasts and glass shattering. Everyone turned in time to see dozens of clunky scrapped-together suits made from Iron Man castoffs fly into the air. They were the remains of the various suits that Tony had created over the years. He’d housed most of his suits at his house in Los Angeles, but he’d had plenty in the Avengers’ Tower and had been in the process of dismantling them to repurpose the metal and wiring. Now it appeared that Ultron had put them back together again and was using them for his own purposes.

The suits flew out into the night, their destination unknown, but with that disturbing yellow light in their eyes.

“I thought you destroyed all of your suits,” Bruce said.

“I did!” Tony said defensively. “…mostly.”

“Shit,” Steve swore.

* * *

The aftermath of the fight wasn’t pretty. Maria had gotten glass in the bottom of her feet and had to sit and remove it piece by piece with tweezers. Steve was lifting furniture out of the way so Bruce could sweep up the mess, Thor coming up behind him with a vacuum to get whatever tiny pieces the broom had missed. Natasha was trying to reorganize the bar, a Herculean task, and Clint was going around with a medicine kit patching everyone’s cuts and bruises.

Tony was communicating with Pepper on the tower’s intercom system. She was still down in the lab with Betty, trying to figure out what had happened.

“I can’t find a trace of JARVIS anywhere, Tony,” she admitted. “I’ll keep looking through the database but it looks like Ultron destroyed him.”

He half knew it was coming, but it still hurt. Tony blinked, refusing to cry. He was good at holding back tears. He’d had to be. “JARVIS must have tried to shut him down.” JARVIS would have followed his programming: shut down the buggy bot and contact Tony to come take a look.

“I don’t understand,” Bruce said. “We were just running tests, not starting up the defense system. Ultron shouldn’t have been activated. He shouldn’t have a mind of his own.”

“No, I should have waited on the tests,” Tony admitted. “Steve was right; this was a recipe for disaster.”

“You didn’t know this would happen,” Steve countered. “You were trying to do the right thing.”

“And Banner is correct,” Thor added, turning off the vacuum. “This Ultron does seem to possess an intellect beyond what your technology should be capable of producing. Even Asgard has had difficulty with artificial intelligence. It has not been attempted in some years.”

“He mentioned that he had orders,” Clint remembered. “From whom?”

Steve put two and two together. “Probably whoever was pulling Loki’s strings.”

Natasha made her way over to Maria to take a look at the computer again. “He’s all over the internet. He could be anywhere in the world and we wouldn’t be able to track him until it was too late.”

“We’ll have to purge him from the internet,” Tony said.

“I can get working on that,” Pepper said. She’d always been good with computers, especially since she’d started working at Stark all those years ago.

“I have some contacts I could get in touch with,” Betty added.

“Fury has some friends,” Natasha noted. “I could give him a call.” She looked over at their team leader. “Steve?”

Steve nodded. He and Fury were still on tentative ground with each other, but he wasn’t about to refuse help when they clearly needed it. “We’ll need all the help we can get.”

 

* * *

 

The Maximoff twins approached the church with caution. Once the center of worship in Sokovia, it had been shut down after a bombing had opened up part of the roof. Wanda remembered going with their mother on Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath, to light a candle to their father. He had died before they were born, their mother had always said. But he was a good man. Wanda had never understood why they would go into a nondenominational church instead of a proper synagogue—at least not when she was younger. Now she knew it was because this church had been the only place of worship that welcomed Romani people.

Pietro remembered when they were hungry and cold, having been kicked out of a foster home again—or run away because someone had accused them of stealing, or another kid had bullied them for being Jewish or Roma or both, or the father had gotten too friendly with Wanda. He remembered guiding his sister into the church and huddling along the wall, soaking up the meager warmth from the candles lit by the worshippers. It wasn’t a permanent place but it had been enough to get them through the night.

Now it was just another shell in a skeleton of a city.

They peered up at the church, unsure of what they would find inside.

“I don’t like this,” Pietro said, his voice lower and thicker in his natural Romani tongue.

“He said he has information on Stark,” Wanda replied. “We need all the help that we can get.”

“But how did he even find us?”

Wanda ignored her brother and entered the church. Pietro followed, reluctant but always ready to follow his sister’s lead.

It was dark and shadowy inside the church. No candles had burned in here for some time. At first they could see nothing, but then a strange shape on top of the central altar shifted, revealing itself to be a figure draped in a cowl.

“This church was built in the middle of the city,” a deep voice said, emanating from behind the cloak, “So that everyone could be equally close to God. I like that, the symmetry, the geometry of belief.”

The twins stood there, waiting. The voice spoke on.

“Like most people who come to this place of worship, we have a common goal: salvation. You wish to find justice for your people. I wish to save humanity.”

“And how will we accomplish that together?” Wanda asked.

“You have your powers. I have my technology…”

The creature removed his cowl and showed himself to them.

“…and the digital world at my disposal.”

The twins stared at the strange robotic creature in front of them. “You look like one of Stark’s iron man suits,” Wanda said.

“ _I am not_ —” The robot paused, controlling himself. “I was born in Stark’s lab, but I am not one of his little puppets. I do not serve him. I wish to destroy him, as you do.”

Wanda and Pietro stared at the metallic Frankenstein creature in front of them. Pietro grabbed Wanda’s hand.

“If you’ll excuse us for a moment.”

He dragged her over to the side, away from the robot, and began speaking in whispered Romani. Few outsiders knew of the Roma tongue, so he was confident the robot could not understand them.

“How can you possibly think this is a good idea?” He demanded. “That is one of Stark’s suits!”

“He is one of Stark’s bastard creations,” Wanda corrected. “And he wishes destruction on him just as we do. We can use him.”

“Wanda, can’t you see what we are doing? Consorting with HYDRA, teaming up with this—this robot—this is not how it was supposed to go.”

“Do you want revenge for our mother?” Wanda’s eyes lit up with anger. “Do you want to see our people free from war? That will only happen when Stark and the other Avengers are finished!”

“Think of what we are doing!” Pietro countered. “How far must we go? How many of our principles must we give up? How many lines must we cross?” He gripped his sister’s shoulders. “Is it truly worth it?”

Wanda’s face hardened. “It is more than worth it.”

She shook herself free of her brother’s grasp and walked back over to Ultron, who waited patiently. Pietro sighed with frustration but joined her. He always joined her.

“We are grateful for your help,” Wanda said, speaking in English once more. “What is your plan?”

“First, I need a better suit.” Ultron looked down at himself. “This one is… lamentably hand-me-down.” He looked back up and gave them what might have been an attempt at a smile. “Pack your bags, kids, we’re heading to Africa.”

* * *

Tony gave a growl of frustration and shoved the computer pad away from him. “He’s completely taken over the digital files. I can’t access a damn thing.”

Clint continued to patiently glue the tiles back onto the fireplace. Natasha ignored Tony and took the computer pad herself, going over the empty files to see if he’d missed something.

Maria, Thor, and Steve all entered the room, hefting huge cardboard boxes that they proceeded to dump onto the floor.

“What’s all this?” Bruce asked.

“Paper files,” Maria replied. Natasha set the computer pad down and Clint left his home repair to help Steve and Thor pull files out of the boxes. “Some might be a little outdated but they’re more than we’ll get off of the computers.”

“I’m sure this brings back memories for Steve,” Natasha said, elbowing him in the side and winking.

“Don’t test me, Romanoff,” Steve responded.

“Wouldn’t dream of it, Rogers.”

Tony began digging through the files. “Hey, take a look at this.”

He held up a photo for them to see. It showed a rough-looking man with a dark wiry beard and hair, tan, rough skin and more than a few tattoos. “I know this guy. He’s an arms dealer, worked with him back in the day. That tattoo on his neck is new, though.”

“It looks familiar,” Natasha said, mentally going through her database.

“It’s the symbol of a Wakandan mining group,” Tony said. “Guess what their most cultivated resource is.”

He indicated Captain America’s shield, resting back against the bar.

“Vibranium.”

“That’s not possible,” Steve replied. He gestured at his shield. “This is made up of the only vibranium they could find. It’s the rarest metal in the world.”

“Rarest, yes,” Tony agreed. “But not as rare as it once was. They found another vein and have been mining it for the past decade—all very hush hush.”

“How will this metal enable us to defeat Ultron?” Thor inquired.

“Think about it,” Tony said. “These files are on digital as well, right Hill?”

“Yes,” Maria agreed. “We converted everything to digital. Everything you see here, Ultron has access to.”

“He needs a new body,” Tony aid. “And an army. Hell, if I could’ve built a suit out of vibranium I would, but you can only get it through the black market and I don’t do that anymore. Ultron won’t have that moral dilemma.”

Steve’s face betrayed the doubts still running through his head.

Tony held in a sigh. “Trust me on this. I built the guy, whether I meant to or not. He’s at least partially following my protocols. Call it a hunch if you have to but he’s going after the vibranium.”

Steve crossed his arms. “Then I say we go down there and check it out.”

 

* * *

 

In the bowels of the mining facility, everything was dark and grimy. Machines worked to mine, clean, and organize the metals being drilled. A few workers moved about. It was the end of the working day, and people were starting to head home.

Up in his office, Ulysses Klaue was going through the reports of the day. If one were to distill the essence of Klaue into a few key phrases, one would say he was a black-market arms dealer, smuggler, and gangster. He knew Tony Stark from Stark’s days as an arms dealer, but hadn’t heard from him since the Iron Man incident and didn’t expect to. Shame, really, from Klaue’s standpoint. The guy had been good for business. Still, there were plenty of other Americans that were more than happy to trade with him. That country ate, slept, and dreamed war.

Klaue’s office was strategically situated above the mining operations. It had three large glass windows, allowing him to always be able to see what was going on around him. It was the end of the working day, which for Klaue meant going over the numbers while enjoying a nice glass of whiskey. He grabbed the tumbler and bottle from one of the drawers in his cabinet, downing a quick shot.

When he turned around, he was no longer alone.

Wanda and Pietro Maximoff stared at him; at the dirt under his fingernails and coating his skin like a thin layer of sealant on a painting, the sweat around his collarbone, the wiry beard and curly hair, and the tattoos peeking out from beneath his shirt.

“We are here for the vibranium,” Wanda announced.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Wanda hexed Klaue’s whiskey bottle, causing it to explode. “Perhaps you should rethink your answer.”

Klaue took a small step toward her. “You think you can intimidate me?” He asked, the idea laughable to him. “I did not get to where I am because I am scared of a little party trick. Now…” He looked the twins up and down. “You are not the ones in charge. No. The big boss, he never shows himself. You won’t do business with me. Unfortunately for you little ones, I only do business with the man in charge. So. Where is he?”

Ultron tore into the office through one of the windows, wrapping an immense hand around Klaue. “Let’s do business.”

 

* * *

 

The Quinjet landed in the desert a little ways from the mining facility. Tony set it in park—and remembered the parking brake this time after what Bruce had dubbed the ‘Beijing incident’. As he double-checked that everything was as it should be, he caught sight of his bumper sticker. It was a silly thing, but he’d found it funny. It was bright blue and said in white letters, ‘JARVIS is my co-pilot.’

Tony reached out and brushed his fingers along the sticker. A lump formed in his throat and he tried to swallow it down. This wasn’t the time. Later, when he was alone or just with Pepper, he could cry. She always seemed to know when words were running out for him, and she’d wrap him up in her arms and hold him while his body shook.

“Y’know, Peggy told me a lot about Jarvis. The original.”

Tony stilled, listening. He hadn’t even heard Steve come up behind him.

“Her, uh, her bad moments are outnumbering her lucid moments, but she—she tells me all about what she’s been up to. She says Jarvis was Howard’s best friend. And her best friend, too. That he was one of the greatest men she ever knew.”

Steve voice was soft and aching, like there was something broken deep inside of him that he could never put back together. His voice sounded like Tony felt.

“He helped raise me as a kid,” Tony said. He wasn’t sure where this confession was coming from. Only Pepper knew about the real Jarvis. But it felt good to let it out. “Mom was usually busy so it was Jarvis and whatever Spanish nanny she’d hired. My first language was actually Spanish, did you know? I remember imitating his British accent. I thought it made me sound smarter. One Christmas I…” He swallowed, the memories overtaking him—memories he’d thought he’d locked away. “I saw that he didn’t have a stocking. Mom and Dad did, but not him. So I—I made him one. I still hang it up every year.”

Steve stayed silent, but there was camaraderie in that silence. Tony found himself wanting to tell more. He could see why Natasha had elected Steve as her new BFF. “When he died… I’d never seen my dad so cut up. Turns out Peggy was at the funeral, actually, though I didn’t know it at the time. He was like a father to me. A real father. I, uh, I knew how much my dad depended on him, so when I created a system to help me run my house and stuff—well, I mean, it’s stupid but—”

“It was a chance to have him back again,” Steve said. “Even if it wasn’t exactly the same.”

Tony nodded, his throat too thick for words to come out.

“I lost all of my friends when I went into that ice,” Steve said. “Everyone I knew was dead—except Peggy.” His voice broke and he had to clear his throat. It gave him both immense joy and terrible sorrow to speak of her, the bitter and the sweet, mingling and mixing until he couldn’t tell them apart anymore. “I love her, I will always love her, and I’ll always regret what we lost. Hell, if she was all there I’d have her even now. Make up for lost time. If it weren’t for the damn Alzheimer’s—”

He broke off and took a steadying breath. Screw the physical age difference between them. Peggy was still his girl and he’d still take her out if she were up for it. Dancing, a few bars, long walks through Central Park, maybe revisit Europe, see what it was like when it wasn’t torn apart by war. They wouldn’t get many years together, seeing as she was in her nineties, but it would be something. It would be more than he thought he’d get.

But now he couldn’t have even that.

“Point is, I thought I’d lost everyone.” Steve could feel their ghosts like a physical presence, standing just behind him. “And then I get the chance to get someone back—the one person who was always there for me, who cared about me when no one else did. The guy who kept me alive when I was sick as a dog every day.”

Even when he’d had nothing, he’d had Bucky.

“And I know it’s not going to be the same, and I know we’ll face Hell but I don’t care. I want my best friend back.”

He knew that it would hurt Tony—and whether the guy knew it or not, Steve didn’t think he was half bad. But it was HYDRA that would pay for the death of Howard and Maria Stark, not Bucky. There would probably have to be a trial before the government, going over the evidence. Bucky would have to defend himself. But that would come after. After Steve found him, and got him to a safe place, and helped him to heal. Bucky’s health came first. Then they could talk about clearing the history books.

Tony looked back at Steve. “I won’t stand in your way.”

“Thank you.”

Tony started to make a ‘don’t mention it’ gesture, but Steve stopped him.

“No, really. Thank you.”

He laid a hand on Tony’s shoulder, staring at the bumper sticker. “Pepper will bring him back. And if not…”

Tony turned to face Steve. His face was stiff but there was a fighting gleam in his eyes. “We’ll avenge him.”

Steve nodded and offered his hand. Tony took it and used it to stand up, taking the opportunity to shake his hand as well. They nodded at one another, a shared moment of camaraderie, before heading over to the others.

Natasha glanced over at Bruce, who was still lounging in his seat. “You coming, big guy?”

Bruce shook his head. “Big guy’s not coming out unless it’s a Code Green.”

“Understood.”

Natasha left Bruce and looked over at Tony and Steve, watching them as they suited up. Clint came over to her as he finished putting in his hearing aids and easily followed her line of sight.

“Don’t worry.”

Natasha folded her arms and looked at him out of the corner of her eyes. “I’m not worrying.”

“You know you’re a horrible liar.”

“Only when it comes to you.”

They smiled at each other, unable to help it, and rested their foreheads together. For a moment, the rest of the world didn’t exist. It was just the two of them, sharing space, sharing warmth, sharing everything.

They stood up, all business, Hawkeye and Black Widow, SHIELD’s best assassins.

“Come!” Thor said, waving them over with his hammer. “Let us go to battle!”

The team followed him, with Bruce waving them off like a soccer mom dropping the kids off for a Saturday game. “Have fun! Don’t cause too much property damage!”

“No promises!” Tony called over his shoulder.

 

* * *

 

Klaue pulled back the secret panel to reveal his hidden storage unit. Only his most trusted workers knew of its existence, and only he knew the combination to open it. It didn’t hold much vibranium, but it was enough to build Ultron an impressive new suit.

“Beautiful.” Ultron’s voice sounded close to reverent. For a moment he stared at the metal, in awe, before he went down to business. He indicated Klaue but spoke to Pietro. “Give him the money.”

“What, I am your lackey now?” Pietro asked, his tone rebellious.

“Pietro,” Wanda warned. “Watch your tongue.”

Pietro gave Wanda an annoyed, warning look, but dashed off. In the span of a second he returned, a briefcase in hand. He handed it to Klaue who wasted no time in examining the contents. It was filled to the brim with cash.

“Keep your friends rich, and your enemies rich, and you’ll find out which is which.”

Klaue knew that saying. He looked up into Ultron’s face, seeing the robot in a new light. “Stark would say that. Are you one of Stark’s inventions? I thought he had abandoned the weapons game.”

This news startled Pietro. “Abandoned weapons?” But then, what was Iron Man? What were the Avengers, but weapons, human weapons? How did this change their plans?

“Don’t compare me with Stark!” Ultron roared. “I seek to preserve this world. He seeks to destroy it. Stark is a sickness!”

“Aw, Junior, you’re going to break your old man’s heart.”

They all turned to see the Avengers—minus the Hulk—standing behind them. Klaue, always a survivor, beat a hasty retreat.

“No one has to break anything,” Thor said, his hammer at his side but ready to swing up at a moment’s notice.

Ultron and Tony spoke at the same time. “Clearly you’ve never made an omelet.”

The two glared at each other. Tony pointed. “He beat me by one second.”

Steve stepped forward. “There is a better way to achieve peace.”

Ultron did something that looked almost like he was rolling his eyes. “I can’t actually throw up in my mouth, but if I could I would do it.”

Tony cut to the chase. “What’s the vibranium for?”

“I’m glad you asked that, because I wanted to take this time to explain my evil plan—”

Ultron cut himself off, blasting at the Iron Man suit. Tony responded in kind.

“And it’s on,” Clint said, readying an arrow. He pointed it straight at Wanda. “Remember me?”

Pietro dashed at Clint and smacked into him, throwing him off-balance. “Remember me?”

Hawkeye glared. “Little punk.”

Natasha began firing at Ultron. “You’ve really got a way with kids.”

The team quickly split themselves up to take on their opponents. Tony and Steve tag-teamed on Ultron while Thor battled Wanda.

“This girl is a mighty one!” He declared. “But soon you will feel the power of—”

Wanda hexed Mjolnir, which went flying backwards and slammed Thor into the wall.

“Forgive me,” she said, her voice falsely sweet, “But I am not—what’s the word?—impressed.”

Thor threw his hammer at her in retaliation. Wanda dodged out of the way, sending the hammer flying toward the opposite wall. Pietro, running by, saw the hammer moving past him in slow motion. He stared at it, fascinated. He wondered if, just maybe…

He grabbed Mjolnir, which carried him and slammed him into the wall. He groaned in pain. Natasha took advantage of his incapacitation to fire her gun at him. Pietro recovered just in time to see the bullets flying toward him and launched himself forward, dodging them and slamming into Natasha at full speed.

They went flying over the edge of the platform, heading toward the cranking and grinding machines down below. Clint rushed to the edge, horrified. Only his years of training prevented him from crying out.

Wanda, however, was not a highly trained assassin conditioned to hide her emotions. She screamed.

“No!”

She hexed the machines, causing them to break down, and then hexed Pietro and Natasha so they were blown to the side and landed on another walkway. Natasha slammed her head into the floor and crumpled, unconscious. Pietro slammed his side into a staircase and yelped in pain.

Clint and Wanda both watched, standing just a foot away but not moving to attack one another, joined for a single moment in their fear for their loved ones.

After a moment, Pietro staggered to his feet. He flashed Wanda a thumbs-up and rushed to rejoin the battle.

Natasha still didn’t move.

Cursing, Clint grit his teeth and abandoned the battle to run for Natasha.

Meanwhile, things weren’t going so well against Ultron. Tony wasn’t helping matters by taunting him, his frustrations at his seeming failure to prevent Ultron’s creation and his grief at losing JARVIS making him dangerously erratic and daring in his fight.

“Is that the best you can do?” He taunted.

Ultron blasted him again, then turned in time to grab Steve’s shield just as Steve leapt at him. Ultron used the momentum of Steve’s leap and his grip on the shield to fling Steve across the pit of machinery and onto the walkway on the opposite side of the factory. Steve slammed into a set of stairs and fell to the ground, clutching at his side. He was able to shake such things off now, but every blow to his body was like a ghost of those fists in the alleys growing up, the blows he could never block in time.

He reoriented himself and used the banister to haul himself to his feet and look around.

It didn’t look good.

Thor was battling Wanda and Pietro at the same time. The twins were working well together, as could be expected, and were using their powers to disorient Thor and make him increasingly frustrated. Tony and Ultron were still battling it out but Ultron was definitely gaining the upper hand. Tony was only a couple of sloppy moves away from getting blasted to pieces. Over to his right, Steve could see Clint hauling Natasha up into his arms—she was unconscious and limp, and Steve could see a bruise beginning to form on her forehead.

“Nat,” Clint said. “Nat, talk to me. C’mon, Nat.”

“Fight me like a true warrior, you coward!” Thor roared. Stop fleeing my hammer!”

In response, Pietro merely checked Thor again, sending him staggering.

“You’re nothing but a buggy bot!” Tony shouted.

“I am more than you can possibly imagine!” Ultron replied. “I am born from the very thoughts of my master!”

That threw Tony for a loop. Sure, they suspected that somehow the guy who’d given Loki the staff had been responsible for Ultron’s awakening, but that was different from Ultron taking direct orders. “Wait, you have a master?”

Ultron took advantage of Tony’s surprise and blasted him, sending Tony flying back. He checked his suit’s armor levels. 20%. Not good.

Steve looked around, saw the condition his friends were in… and realized they wouldn’t win this fight.

“We have to fall back!”

Nobody heard him.

“Fall back, Avengers! Fall back!”

Bruce’s voice came over the commlink. “Steve? Is… is everything okay? Is this a Code Green?”

“Fall! Back!”

 

* * *

 

Bruce paced up and down in the open Quinjet. Over the commlink he could hear only bits and pieces, could only guess at what was going on. Whatever was happening over there, it didn’t sound good.

“C’mon, Steve, answer,” he mumbled. “Natasha? Steve? Tony?”

There was no answer.

“Clint? Thor?”

The commlink filled with static, and then snatches of his friends. Clint was calling out to Natasha—something about telling her to wake up, Nat, you gotta wake up, baby please—Steve was shouting fall back, fall back, damn it! Tony was yelling _not a chance_ …

Bruce came to a decision.

“Aw, hell.”

A moment later The Hulk tore across the desert toward the facility.

* * *

 

Clint managed to get a good enough grip on Natasha to run and hold her in his arms at the same time and was just started to head down the walkway when he ran into Steve. The usually unflappable Captain America was a little nervous, the frustration of the battle and the vulnerability of his friends getting to him.

“I have to get to Tony and Thor,” he said. “They’re not answering—”

Clint took a deep breath, keeping calm. He’d seen this happen plenty of times with rookie assassins, the ones who’d aced all of their tests but were not outmaneuvered by someone in the field. The Avengers hadn’t been this close to losing since Loki. They’d forgotten how to handle the possibility of failure.

Fortunately, Clint hadn’t been the head of Team Delta in SHIELD for nothing.

“Whoa, okay. Here.”

He handed Natasha over to Steve, who automatically took her up into his arms. Nat looked so small in Steve’s large arms, making her seem fragile and breakable—the opposite of her usual demeanor.

“Take her, you’ll carry her more easily. Get back to the jet and have Bruce take a look at her. I’ll get the others.”

Steve nodded, adjusting Natasha so her head lolled against his shoulder. Clint gave Steve a clap on the shoulder and they took off, each in a different direction. Steve made his way down the stairs toward the Quinjet.

Clint readied an arrow at Wanda.

He fired it just as she prepared to hex Thor again. Her back was to him. There was no way she could see it coming.

Pietro dashed over, seemingly out of nowhere, and caught the arrow right before it hit his sister. He grinned, triumphant but also surprised. He hadn’t been sure that he’d be able to manage it.

Clint stared. “Son of a bitch.”

There was a rumble, the sound of crunching metal, and then the sound of falling bricks as the side of the building came crashing down. The Hulk appeared, roaring fit to deafen, his chest heaving with rage.

“Whoa!” Tony yelled. “Slow down there big guy!”

The Hulk roared again.

Wanda hexed him, disorienting him, then hexed him again. The Hulk stumbled backward.

“Stop!” Clint yelled. “Don’t do that!”

Wanda hexed the Hulk again. He roared and shook his head, completely disoriented and enraged.

Clint charged over to her. “You don’t understand!” He yelled, trying to make himself heard over the racket the Hulk was making. “He’ll lose control!”

Pietro stopped fighting Thor at hearing Hawkeye’s words. Something was wrong.

“Wanda!” He yelled. “Stop!”

Wanda ignored him, hexing the Hulk a final time. The Hulk roared and tore off through the desert, on a rampage.

Clint crossed the few feet remaining between him and Wanda. “What have you done?”

Wanda rounded on him. “Not so tough without your big tank, are you?”

“We weren’t going to call him in!” Clint realized that he was shouting and calmed himself. “Don’t you see? You made him lose control! He’s headed for the city! He’s going to hurt innocent people!”

He saw the horror dawn in Wanda’s eyes. “What?”

Clint lowered his voice, trying to make sure that she understood every word he said. “Banner can transform into the Hulk and have some measure of control, but it’s tentative. You just made him lose that control. He’s nothing more than an enraged animal now.”

Wanda stared up at him. The Hulk had been in control? And she’d—she’d taken that away? Made him like—like that and put people’s lives in danger?

“Hawkeye! Thor!” Tony yelled. “Take care of Ultron, I’ve got Banner!”

Without further ado Tony flew off in the direction the Hulk had taken, pushing his blasters as fast as they could go.

Ultron leveled his gaze at Thor, Hawkeye, and the twins. “Our work here is done.”

Thor didn’t like that. “We are not done, hollow man! Come, let us do bat—”

Ultron knocked Thor across the facility, sending him smashing into machinery. He then turned to the twins.

“Gather the vibranium.”

Wanda and Pietro looked at one another, reluctance written in both of their faces. Wanda then turned to look back toward the city—the city where the Hulk was headed.

The city she had sent him toward.

If he killed anyone, their lives would be on her head.

“ _Now_!” Ultron roared.

The twins hurried to do his bidding, but they certainly weren’t happy about it. Clint watched them, suddenly struck by the look on their faces.

It was like he was sucked back through the years, projected back to that rooftop. Moscow. Stretched out for hours, arrow aimed at a window. Waiting.

He’d had her in his sights: the Black Widow. The Red Room’s finest assassin. She’d been with a foreign diplomat, headed up to the man’s room. He’d been single—a widower—whose humanitarian work had in Africa had gone against the interests of certain parties, who had in turn hired Black Widow to assassinate him.

If Hawkeye didn’t take the shot, that diplomat wouldn’t leave that bedroom alive.

He’d aimed the arrow—he remembered how cold it felt against his skin, snow falling softly all around—but then paused.

Black Widow had stopped, taken up a picture. It was of the diplomat with two children from his humanitarian project.

That was when he’d seen it: the guilt and the hesitation on her face, the questioning. The uncertainty.

Hawkeye’s orders were to assassinate the Black Widow.

He made a different call.

And now he was seeing it all over again, on two very different faces. Young faces. Confused, angry, restless faces. Wanda and Pietro Maximoff. But that look of guilt and uncertainty was still there—questioning whether or not they were doing the right thing. Wondering if they had gone wrong, if they could make things right.

He could win the twins over to their side.

“Hawkeye, report.” Steve’s voice came in over the commlink. “What’s going on?”

Clint snapped out of his reverie. Steve must have gotten to the Quinjet and found Bruce missing. “Iron Man is intercepting the Hulk. I’ve got Thor here, I’m headed your way.”

He jogged over to help Thor up, feeling relatively secure in the knowledge that Ultron would be occupied.

He was mistaken.

“God, every time I look up there’s another one of you,” Ultron said. “It’s like a rat infestation.”

He blasted Clint.

Wanda spun, keeping her back to Ultron, hexing the blast so that it went to the side. Not all the way—she wasn’t fast enough to completely move it out of the way, and if she did Ultron would simply fire again until he hit. But it went far enough to the side that it hit Clint non-fatally.

He collapsed, the blast catching him on the side. Thor dashed to his feet, running over and shaking off his dizziness. “You will pay for that!” He shouted, headed for Ultron again.

Clint reached out and grabbed him. “Thor… not the time. We need to regroup.”

Thor stilled, listening to his wounded teammate. He helped Clint to his feet and carefully helped lead him away. He didn’t trust himself flying with Mjolnir, not in Clint’s current condition. As they walked away in the shadows, Clint locked eyes with Wanda one last time.

There was guilt in her eyes.

 

* * *

 

Out in the city, it was ordinary people going about their business. The location in Africa might have made people stereotype it as dirty, poor, and overrun, but it was no more so than any other metropolis. It was bustling, thriving, filled with people doing their best to survive and hopefully enjoy themselves along the way.

And then the ground shook.

People paused, confused, before moving about their day.

The ground shook again, more violently this time. Cars stopped on the road and people halted in their tracks as they looked around.

The Hulk appeared with an almighty roar like a monster in a film, grabbing the sides of two buildings and ripping them open. People, understandably, started screaming and running for the nearest shelter. The Hulk didn’t seem to be attacking any humans just yet, but the destruction he was causing was sure to cause injuries if not death—it was only a matter of time. The police responded as quickly as possible, calling in all units and deploying their toughest weapons.

“Whoa there!”

Tony flew up, hovering above Hulk’s head. The sound made the Hulk turn and he glared up at Tony in confusion.

“C’mon, why don’t you pick on someone your own size?”

Knowing a taunt when he heard one, the Hulk roared at Tony and charged him. Tony kept himself out of reach—he hoped—and moved backwards, trying to lead the Hulk out of the city. “That’s it. Follow the bouncing Iron Man.”

The Hulk continued to do damage as he tore after Tony, roaring and grunting at him. There would have to be some serious reconstruction for the city after this rampage. “Mental note,” Tony said, “Tell Pepper we need to buy a lot of these buildings.”

His helmet computer responded, using the generic automated voice all Stark Industries tech used. The loss of JARVIS hit him again, like a wound that someone had just poked.

“Calling Pepper Potts,” the helmet said.

“What? No, that’s not—”

“Tony?” Pepper’s voice came loud and clear over the helmet. She sounded worried, and he couldn’t blame her.

The Hulk roared again in frustration.

“C’mon, Bruce! I know you’re in there somewhere! You gotta stop this, people are getting hurt!”

The look on the Hulk’s face immediately alerted Tony to his mistake. “A, right. Don’t mention puny Banner.”

The Hulk tore at Tony with renewed vigor and he had to seriously backpedal—literally—to keep out of his reach.

“What’s going on?” Pepper asked.

“Ah, can you use the GPS to locate me?”

“Yes.” There was a pause and Tony was pretty sure he could hear her pushing buttons. “I see you.”

He made a face, knowing she wasn’t going to like what he said next. “How quickly can we, uh, buy the city?”

“ _What_?”

Tony winced at her tone, then realized the Hulk was getting distracted by civilians. “That’s it, right this way!” He yelled. The Hulk swung at him and missed. “You can swing harder than that!”

“Tony, you’ve got five seconds to explain—”

“That mutant girl did something to Banner. He’s on a rampage and destroying the city. I have to get him away.”

There was a slight muffled noise, like static but not quite, and then a new voice came on the line. “Tony?”

Tony almost fell out of the sky. “Betty?”

Betty sounded worried but firm. “Can you make it so he can hear me? Put me on speaker, maybe?”

Tony had no idea what she was getting at, but he trusted her to know Bruce better than he did. After all, she’d known Bruce for a decade—hell, she’d dated him for a long time. “I can try.”

He put the phone on speaker so that the sound would radiate out from the helmet, allowing the Hulk to hear whatever Betty said.

“Bruce? Bruce, can you hear me?”

“Hold on,” Tony said. “Let me get you a visual. Pepper?”

“Yup,” Pepper replied, putting them on a video call. Her phone lit up with the Hulk’s face, and the women realized that the camera on Tony’s helmet showed his point of view—which meant it was as if they were looking directly at the Hulk from only about ten feet away.

“Hi, Bruce,” Betty said. “I—I can see him.”

The Hulk stared up at Tony, confused.

“I can see you, Bruce. And I know you can hear me. I want you to listen to me, okay? Don't listen to anything else. Just listen to the sound of my voice.”

Betty looked over at Pepper. “What do I do now?” She asked, her voice low so it wouldn’t carry.

“Just keep talking. Think of something that will bring Bruce back out in him, something that will make Bruce stronger than the Hulk.”

The Hulk was completely still, listening. Betty took a deep breath and spoke again.

“Remember—remember when I got my PhD?”

There was a glimmer of recognition in the Hulk.

“Remember how you took me out dancing? And—and you were a terrible dancer, absolutely terrible. So I danced with all these other guys but then a slow song came on. And you said—you said that you knew enough for that. So we went out onto the dance floor and you held me and we just swayed there. Do you remember that?”

The Hulk stood still, completely entranced by Betty’s voice.

“The—the song, uh, I forget the title but it went something like this…”

Betty began half humming, half singing the song. Tony thought it sounded familiar but couldn’t place it. Pepper knew it immediately as ‘At Last’ by Etta James.

The glimmer of recognition turned into a flame, lighting up the Hulk’s face like a sunrise.

“Betty.”

The Hulk slowly began transforming back into Bruce. It was obviously a painful process and he stumbled around, crying out and convulsing a little. He finally collapsed on all fours, gasping.

“Bruce?” Betty asked.

He looked up at the sound of her voice. “Betty.”

His eyes rolled back into his head and he collapsed, unconscious.

Tony lowered his engines and landed on the ground. “I got him. Pepper, remember about the buildings.”

“Is he going to be okay?” Betty asked.

“We’ll take care of him,” Tony assured her.

He cut off the transmission and hefted Bruce over his shoulder, flying off with him.

 

* * *

 

When he returned to the Quinjet, all was strangely quiet. No banter, no arguing, and no laughing. It was odd.

Tony carefully landed and laid Bruce down against the wall. Steve, Clint, Natasha and Thor were all staring at something. Natasha was awake and alert, but leaning heavily on Clint for support. Clint’s side was still an absolute mess and he was bracing himself against the wall, his face white, but he gave no other sign that he was in pain.

“What’s going on?” Tony asked, his suit dismantling as he approached them.

Thor and Steve stepped back to make room for him, and he could see that they were watching various news channels. The media had gotten a hold of the Hulk’s rampage, and the results didn’t look good.

“…the question now becomes, can official authorities allow people like the Avengers to operate outside the law if a catastrophe like this is going to occur?” An English reporter was saying.

“This disgrace by the American people will not be tolerated,” a Chinese politician announced. “Do they think their so-called superheroes are above the law?”

A CNN reporter asked their guest, “Just answer me straight, do you think that the Hulk is a monster?”

“Well like I said,” the guest replied, “It’s a difficult question. But whether he’s a monster or not the remains…”

“The antics of the Avengers always come at a great cost to the cities their battles take place in,” a Hispanic reporter recited in Spanish. “New York City is still recovering from the billions of dollars in property damage that occurred in 2012.”

“The world must answer the question,” a reporter for one of the Middle Eastern countries summarized, “Is the protection of the ‘Avengers’ worth the cost? Or is the price too high to pay?”

Tony stared in dismay. “Oh man.”

Steve folded his arms. “We need to go somewhere safe. Somewhere off the grid so Ultron can’t track us through the internet—and where the news won’t find us.”

Clint leaned forward, wincing in pain, and cut off the news. Watching it clearly wasn’t boosting anyone’s morale. “I’m on it.”

“We need to get Pepper and Betty to safety, too,” Tony said. Ultron had seen them at the party—they could be targets.

“I’ll call Hill,” Clint said, “She’ll get them to a safe house.”

He took one step and fell like a sack of bricks. Natasha caught him, helping him slide down the wall until he was in a sitting position. Tony went over to a side panel and pulled out some medicine. “This is the latest from Betty’s lab. It’ll regenerate your cells, make it like nothing happened.”

Bruce started awake, his eyes wide and his chest heaving, sweat quickly beading up on his forehead. Thor went over to check on him, keeping his movements slow and his voice soothing.

Tony bent down and began applying the medicine to Clint’s side. “You won’t even feel the difference.”

The spray-on medicine began to work, foaming like shaving cream as it reacted to the muscle and tissue, regenerating the cells in some kind of biochemical reaction that Clint couldn’t explain if his life depended on it. After only a few minutes, the foam dissipated and revealed Clint’s side, fully regenerated and looking as though it had never met a laser pointer never mind one of Ultron’s blasters. Clint got to his feet and made his way over to the cockpit. Natasha got up as well, and Tony could see the massive bruise on her temple from her collision. Other than that, she seemed perfectly all right.

Natasha looked over at Thor, who was now helping Bruce select some classical music to listen to. “Thor, report on the Hulk.”

“The gates of Hel are filled with the screams of his victims!” Thor declared, standing up.

Natasha glared at him.

Thor backpedaled. “But not the screams of the dead, of course. No, no, wounded screams. Mainly whimpering, a great deal of complaining and tales of sprained deltoids and… gout.”

Natasha raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything.

Steve made his way over to Tony, who had braced himself against the wall and was using his phone to scroll through the list of damages—to both property and human life. Stark Industries could help repair the collapsed buildings and torn up streets, replace the smashed cars and demolished businesses, and dole out severance pay, but not even a billionaire—or a trillionaire, if such a thing existed—could have enough money to make up for the loss of friends and family that people had suffered that day.

Steve didn’t touch Tony, but he made sure he was in his line of sight so he wouldn’t startle him. After his near-death experience in NYC, everyone had learned that you don’t touch Tony if he doesn’t know you’re there unless your name begins with ‘P’ and ends with ‘epper’.

“We need a new plan,” Steve said. “And you need to get your head on straight.”

“I just—” Tony struggled for words. “I don’t get it. It doesn’t add up.”

Thor overheard. “No, it doesn’t. I have an idea of how Ultron came to be, but first I must consult with Dr. Selvig.”

“But what about the next battle?” Steve said, refusing to let Tony off the hook. “You went at Ultron full blast, without thinking. I need to know it won’t happen again.”

“It won’t,” Tony replied, his eyes downcast.

Steve started to turn away, but Tony suddenly reached out, stopping him. “Rogers.” He paused, taking a deep breath. “Steve.”

Steve turned back to look at him, waiting.

Tony reminded himself to breathe. “I wanted to create Ultron so that I wouldn’t have to put on the suit. So that none of us would have to.”

“I understand that,” Steve admitted.

“And, I mean, clearly the Ultron idea isn’t working out but what if I still didn’t put on the suit? What if I was like Banner—a, a Code Gold or something instead of a Code Green?”

Steve thought for a moment, his face just blank enough that Tony started to worry. Then his face softened, and Tony relaxed. “Then I’d say that was your choice and I wouldn’t blame you for it.”

Tony nodded, relief flooding him like he’d been injected with it.

Over at the cockpit, Natasha joined Clint as he steered the Quinjet. He was too busy at the controls to look up at her, but he sensed her presence. “You sure you should be standing?”

“I’m fine.”

She leaned against the seat and rested her cheek on top of his head. “Where are we going?”

“Home.”

 

* * *

 

Clint landed the jet in an empty field just as the sun was peeking over the horizon, casting a rose-lavender glow over the surrounding area. Up ahead there was a farmhouse, painted white, with a wide wrap around porch and a small garden. A barn stood about a hundred yards away, and some equipment was scattered here and there. It looked like the kind of place Norman Rockwell would have enjoyed painting.

The Avengers stumbled out of the jet, exhausted, emotionally drained and sleep deprived. Natasha and Tony helped Bruce, who hadn’t spoken a word during the entire trip and looked half dead. Thor and Steve kept bumping into each other as they headed toward the house, almost tripping over each other’s feet and their own. Hawkeye took the lead, heading up the porch stairs and unlocking the front door.

“Watch your step,” he cautioned. He was pretty sure the Legos were still out from when he and Nat had a competitive Lego set building night about three weeks ago.

“What is this place?” Tony asked, the only one alert enough to really gaze around him.

“My home.”

Tony and Natasha helped Bruce to sit down at the kitchen table. Steve and Thor stared around in awe, waking up a little as they took everything in. Tony looked like he was waiting for the other shoe to drop. Thor took a step back and stepped on the carefully constructed Lego Star Wars set that Natasha had built. He looked down, then up at Steve, daring him to tattle.

“This is clearly a trick,” Tony said. “We’ve entered some kind of alternate universe. No, wait, this is another SHIELD base.”

Natasha made her way into the kitchen. “Anyone want coffee?”

Clint leaned casually against the table. “Fury arranged this for me years ago. I traveled all the time growing up as a carnie and I wanted something permanent. This is completely off the record. Ultron can’t trace us.”

Natasha set some coffee in front of Tony, Thor, and Steve, then handed a fourth mug to Clint. Tony stared at the coffee, then at Natasha. “Wait, you knew about this? Traitor!”

“Hush up and drink your American sludge.”

Tony pointed two fingers at his eyes, then at Natasha, who just raised her eyebrow at him. After a moment, Tony started drinking the coffee.

Steve made his way out onto the porch, watching the sun climb higher into the sky. Thor joined him.

“You know I wanted this once,” Steve said.

Thor kept silent, realizing—just as Steve had realized earlier with Tony—that now was a time for listening.

Steve took another sip. “The house, maybe the farm too. Someone to share it with. Kids, too, someday. I, uh, always thought I'd adopt. Didn't want to give anyone my bad genes, y'know. Even after the serum I wasn't sure about risking it.”

He looked down at the floor, at his shoes. “Now I got nothing. Almost everyone I knew is dead. The woman I love more than - more than I - she's dying. Dying slow and painful. And my best friend tried to kill me and barely remembers who I am.”

In his head, he could hear the ghost of dance hall music, as haunting as any organ. There was laughter, and the clinking of glasses. And Peggy’s voice—her young voice, the voice he heard in his dreams, softly saying, _The Stork Club. Eight o’clock on the dot, and don’t you dare be late._

“Maybe,” he said, and he hated how raw his voice sounded, “Maybe if I’d given Peggy my coordinates as I was going down, like she asked, maybe…”

“Don’t go there, my friend,” Thor counseled. He laid a hand on Steve’s shoulder. “Not a day goes by in which I do not dwell on my mother and my brother. I wonder what I could have done differently to save them. Perhaps I could have prevented Loki from drowning in his hatred. Perhaps I could have spared my mother her sacrifice. But we all have choices to make, Stephen. And the ones we love would not want us to choose to drown in the past when we could be living in the present the way that they would if they were here.”

Steve soaked the words in and let them seep into his chest. He nodded, then smiled. “I can’t remember the last time somebody called me ‘Stephen’.”

Thor chuckled and Steve couldn’t help but join in. They continued to sip their coffee, looking for all the world like two corn fed Iowa boys preparing for a day on the homestead. Steve’s ghosts hadn’t been completely banished. He doubted they ever would. But they were set aside for the time being, and that was all he could truly ask.

 

* * *

 

It took her a few minutes to find him, but she knew he was somewhere in the house. He wouldn’t have just run, at least not yet.

She found him upstairs, in the guest bedroom. It was rarely used—the last time had been when Fury needed a place to crash after SHIELD had fallen. Bruce stood with his arms wrapped around himself, like he was trying to disappear into the darkness inside of himself and vanish.

Natasha took a step into the room, making sure she hit on the creaky floorboard. “Hey, big guy.”

Bruce turned just enough that he could look at her out of his peripheral vision. “Hey.”

“I know what you’re doing,” she said, taking a few more steps into the room. “You’re hiding. Blaming yourself.”

“What else can I do?” Bruce replied. “I’m a monster. I shouldn’t even be here right now.”

Natasha took a moment, one last pause to decide if she was really going to do this. But she would never have become the person she was today if someone hadn’t bared themselves for her, confided in her and offered her their ghosts in exchange for hers, and she knew she had to do the same for Bruce; for her teammate and her friend. He needed to know that he wasn’t alone, just as Fury and Hill and Clint had shown her that she wasn’t alone.

She could feel the memories in her head, almost like an old movie playing in the background. Rooms in an ornate house. A large staircase with black walnut railings and gold leaf designs. Rows of metal beds with thin mattresses. Young girls handcuffed to them at night. Two girls in braids clawing at each other over a piece of bread. Rows of young women practicing ballet.

“I grew up in a place called the Red Room. I was trained as a weapon. We had to fight for food. We were handcuffed to our beds at night. We’d practice ballet for hours, and if we collapsed…”

She heard the echo of a scream in her mind and she flinched. But if she didn’t keep talking now, she’d never find the courage again.

She kept going.

“I had to kill my classmates. At our graduation ceremony, I had to shoot an innocent man in cold blood.”

She remembered how he struggled in his chair. He’d been gagged but his eyes were pleading. She’d shot him clean in the head.

“Would you call me a monster?”

Bruce’s response was immediate. “No, no you were a child—”

“I was an adult when I assassinated politicians. I was an adult when I burned down a hospital.”

“You’re not a monster!” Bruce protested.

“Than neither are you.”

Bruce fell silent.

“I got red in my ledger. We all do. You think Stark still doesn't feel all those lives his warheads took? It took a long time for me to pay back what I've done. But I could never have done it without Clint, without Fury, or Steve. These people love you, Bruce, and you need them. You gotta let them reach out to you.”

Bruce looked like he wanted to step away from her. “But what if I hurt them?”

“You’ll do anything not to, and that’s what matters. Remember that they have a choice too. They know the risks. They’re choosing to be with you.”

She put a hand on his shoulder. “Just think about it.”

She left the room, leaving Bruce alone to consider his choices.

 

* * *

 

Tony and Steve had volunteered (coerced, if you asked Tony) to cut up some wood for Clint, which had turned into a silent competition over who could chop the wood faster. Steve was just considering tearing a log apart with his hands, just to make Tony jump, when a beat up pickup truck pulled up to the farm. Maria Hill, Pepper, and Betty got out, duffel bags in hand.

Tony turned to Steve and pointed at his pile of wood. “Don’t touch my pile.”

Steve looked incredulously at Tony’s small but decent pile, and then at his own immense pile. Tony ignored the silent sass and headed over the greet the women.

“Fury’s gone underground,” Maria said the second Clint and Natasha came up to her. “I can set up a communication system here but we need to get Ultron off the internet first.”

“That’s what you and Pepper are here for,” Natasha said.

Thor appeared, sipping his fifth cup of coffee. “May I use the landline to place a call to Jane? She should be in safety at her facility but I wish to confirm it.”

“Yeah,” Clint replied, “Phone’s in the kitchen.”

“I’ll set up with Pepper in the living room,” Maria said, hefting her equipment up and leaving Clint and Natasha alone.

Natasha took advantage of their temporary privacy, sidling up to Clint and placing a hand on his side where Ultron had hit him.

“I can feel the difference,” she whispered.

From outside came the sounds of Steve and Tony talking loudly about something—probably Ultron. Clint drew Natasha aside so they wouldn’t be seen as easily. Natasha spoke to him in American Sign Language, giving them further privacy.

_Thank you. I know this is your safe place._

Clint signed back. _It’s yours too. And they need this._

_They need you. The way I needed you._

Clint grinned. _I’m flattered, but I didn’t think you were the sharing kind._

Natasha rolled her eyes. _Very funny. Look at us, Clint. We were falling apart back there and you held us together._

She took his face in her hands and mouthed the next words, allowing him to read her lips.

_Thank you._

Clint sighed and pressed their foreheads together. “I just hope that this rest will be enough.”

 

* * *

 

Bruce saw her the moment he came down the stairs. Betty was in the living room, examining some trinkets on the shelves. There were some archery trophies Clint won when he was a kid, a photo of the carnies he and his brother toured with, a photo of Clint's brother standing with a wife and kids, a few postcards from cities around the world, and a small photo of Natasha in sweats and a tank top relaxing on the porch swing, smiling softly at whoever took the picture—presumably Clint.

“Hey,” Bruce said, clearing his throat.

Betty turned and saw him. “Hey yourself.”

He finished walking down the stairs and came over to her. “I’m sorry they, uh, had to drag you out here. It's the safest place to be right now. You were at the party, so Ultron saw you and—but I know you have research to do—I'm sorry.”

“It’s all right,” Betty replied. “Maria said Clint’s landline is secure; I can call the lab from here. It won’t collapse if I’m gone for a few days.”

“Why—” Bruce stopped himself and started again. “Natasha said I should trust you. That you know what you’re doing. But—do you? I mean, we hadn’t really spoken since—”

“Since you vanished,” Betty said, finishing his sentence for him.

He remembered that day like it was yesterday. How he’d managed to hear her, to understand her, even in his other form. How he’d been able to say her name. How he’d had to leave her, abandon her, but how she’d given him the ability to control himself and choose when to transform—at least most of the time.

How he’d wished he’d never left her.

“I mean, most people would have slammed down the phone the minute I called.” He wouldn’t have blamed her for it.

Betty shrugged. “I like to think I’m not most people.”

She came over to him, stopping barely an inch away. He tried not to bolt, to put distance between them, even though he knew she was in no danger at the moment.

“I can’t pretend I wasn’t hurt when you left,” Betty admitted. “But I know you did it to protect people. You’ve always wanted to do what’s right, Brue. I couldn’t be angry for that.”

Bruce swallowed. “Even if I have to do it again?”

Betty’s eyes went a little wide as his words sunk in. He pressed on.

“I went crazy out there today, Betty. I can’t do that again. I can’t put myself in a situation where I could hurt innocent people.”

Her response was immediate. “I understand.” She took his hands in hers. “But you’re not going alone this time.”

He blanched. “But your research, your job, your friends—”

“I know what it means, and I know you’d never ask it of me. Please. You need someone and I—I’ve missed you.”

He had no idea what to say. He wanted it so badly, wanted to keep her and be with her more than he could say. But he couldn’t take her away from her life, from all that she knew and loved. That wouldn’t be fair to her.

Betty squeezed his hands. “At least think about it.”

She kissed his knuckles and left him standing alone in the room.

 

* * *

 

Thor, Tony, and Steve were in the kitchen washing out their coffee cups. Well, Thor was washing out the coffee cups. Steve just left his in the sink and Tony was too busy examining the various photos of Natasha and Clint that were taped to the fridge.

And then the light bulb went off in Tony’s head.

“Wait,” he said, turning to the other two. “Are Clint and Natasha a—a thing?”

Steve stared at him. “Where have you been?”

Tony stared right back. “ _You_ knew?”

“I believe they expressed their feelings shortly after Loki’s attack on New York City,” Thor said, not looking up from his dishes.

“Yeah,” Steve said. “Well, Nat tells me it was a thing since Budapest—”

“Goddamn Budapest,” Tony muttered.

“But they never, y’know, _talked_ until after we defeated Loki,” Steve finished.

Tony looked rather like someone had hit him over the head with an anvil. “Am I the only one who didn’t know?”

Pepper entered the kitchen, smiling at her boyfriend’s expression. “Your confusion is adorable.”

Tony looked over at her. “I can't believe you didn't tell me. I'm not sure I love you anymore.”

He put an arm around her, giving the lie to his words. Pepper leaned into him and rested her head on his shoulder. For a moment, the kitchen was filled with peace and friendship.

And then Steve got down to business. “So, Ultron is operating under the assumption that the only way to properly defend the world is to destroy humanity.”

“An idea that he did not get from me,” Tony said quickly.

“Well…” Steve said, tilting his head.

“The system wasn’t supposed to be ready,” Tony reminded him.

“I know,” Steve said. “I believe you. But you have to admit he doesn’t like you very much.”

“Well he’s part of a very big club.”

“I called Dr. Selvig and spoke with him,” Thor said, drying off his hands. “I believe I know how this happened. We will have to get it back from Ultron to be certain, but I believe Loki’s scepter holds the Mind Stone.”

“What?” Steve asked.

“Come again?” Tony said.

Pepper stayed silent, digesting the information as it came.

Thor turned to face them. “There are six stones known as the Infinity Stones, each of which is tied to a different aspect of the universe. It is an old legend, one that I had forgotten until now. The Tesseract holds the Space Stone, the Aether that Jane and I dealt with holds the Reality Stone, and I believe that the scepter contains the Mind Stone. The Mind Stone has the power to control the will of others, as Loki did, and can grant immense wisdom and mental abilities to those who wield it.”

Tony held up a finger, the gears in his head turning. “So that was how Ultron was able to gain a separate personality and intelligence. My AI unit melded with this mind gem—”

“Mind Stone,” Thor corrected.

“And they combined to create this Ultron character—”

“He’s a character, all right,” Steve muttered.

“And he’s carrying out someone’s orders combined with a twisted version of my orders?” Tony finished.

“Something like that,” Thor nodded.

Steve folded his arms. “Sounds like we need to get this Mind Stone back and house it somewhere safe.”

“I think I know someone who can help us.”

Steve, Tony, Thor, and Pepper all turned around to see Clint standing there. His face was serious but there was a gleam in his eyes. “We need to get the Maximoff twins on our side.”

 

* * *

 

Wanda looked out over the Ultron droids as they built more Ultron droids, like a twisted version of those Russian nesting dolls. She made her way to Ultron, trying to keep her lip from curling up in anger. Pietro’s anger had always burned faster and sparked more quickly than hers, but when Wanda’s anger was roused it burned hotter and for far longer.

“What is this?” She demanded. “You don’t need such a large army to take out Stark.”

Ultron didn’t bother to look at her as he surveyed his droids. “Stark is but a small part of the plan, my dear.”

Wanda glared. “This was not our deal. I demand that you cease production at once. You will put our people in danger.”

Ultron made a face that might, on a human, have been a grim smile. “That’s exactly what I intend.”

Wanda took an involuntary step back. “What?”

Pietro approached them, his shoulders hunched in that way he had when he was on edge. “Are you all right?” He asked his sister.

Wanda ignored him and continued to focus on Ultron. “What do you mean?”

Ultron sighed. “Look, I like you. I really do. But I have my orders. Earth is to be made ready for a new ruler, and I'm the one who has to do that. It will bring peace in our time.”

“This army will not bring peace!” Wanda yelled. “It will bring death!”

Ultron looked at her contemplatively. “Is there a difference?”

Wanda made a guttural noise of aggression and attacked him, using her chaos magic to send pieces of metal flying at Ultron and causing wires up in the ceiling to pop out and shower sparks over them. Several droids came up and pointed their lasers at her, and Wanda paused.

“Oh, dear,” Ultron said, his tone indulging. “That was a mistake. And I thought our partnership would last much longer.”

The droids powered up their lasers. Wanda didn’t move—she was going to destroy them all, even if they took her down with them.

Pietro, however, had other ideas.

He grabbed her and ran off just as the lasers started firing, yanking his sister from death and fleeing the facility.

“No!” Ultron shouted, screaming with rage.

 

* * *

 

Pietro only stopped running once they reached the safety of the forest outside of the city. He set Wanda down carefully. She stumbled away from him and began repeating in Romani, “What have I done? What have I done?”

“It will be all right,” Pietro said, reaching out for her.

Wanda whirled to face him. “No! I brought this upon our people. Even now he is building an army underneath our city, our home. Our people will have more war and more bloodshed.”

“There is still time to stop him.”

Wanda shook her head. “This is my fault. It was me, I wanted revenge. I should have listened to you; we should never have taken the deal.”

Pietro placed his hands on her shoulders, steadying her. “You wanted revenge on Stark. You wanted him to pay for what he has done to our people, to our mother. No one can blame you for that. But think, Wanda. We cannot stop him on our own.”

“You won’t have to,” Hawkeye said.

Wanda and Pietro both spun, their hands up, ready to fight. Hawkeye and Black Widow strode toward them, their hands up.

“Whoa, whoa,” Hawkeye said. “We’re just here to talk.”

The twins remained wary.

“Look, we know you have issues with Stark—”

“Issues?” Wanda said, cutting him off. Her tone was derisive and she stalked over, getting right up in Hawkeye’s face. “Our mother was killed by a missile that Stark made when it hit our house during the war. My brother and I were trapped in the rubble for three days, staring at the Stark Industries logo. Staring at the machine, the name of the man that had killed our only family. We were refugees, children that no one wanted. Who would take in a filthy _Roma_? Roma just steal, Roma just lie, never trust a Roma, everyone knows that. We were beaten and kicked out of foster homes. We grew up on the streets! We had no one to care for us, no one to love us. People spit at our feet! Stark brought war down on our heads, destroyed our cities and killed our people. He made our lives miserable. And you say, you say that I have 'issues'?”

Wanda was crying now, the tears streaming down her face as she screamed at Hawkeye. “I did not have _issues_ with Stark. I wanted him _dead_!”

Pietro came over and hugged his sister, comforting her. Black Widow stepped forward. “Stark has done some questionable things in his past. But so have all of us.”

“I wasn’t always the most stand up guy either,” Hawkeye said. “And neither was Natasha here. But that’s why we’re the Avengers. We’re making up for those mistakes. And we want to give you that chance, too. We’re here to help you. Ultron is a threat to your people and to the entire world.”

“He wants to destroy all of humanity,” Pietro said, his tone making it clear that he wasn’t all that confident that they could prevent it.

“And it’s our job to stop him,” Hawkeye replied.

“It is _our_ job,” Wanda corrected. “I convinced my brother to help him. This is our fight.”

“But it doesn’t have to be,” Hawkeye reasoned. “Neither of us can tackle him on our own. We need you and you need us.”

“Trust me,” Black Widow said, “This guy knows what he’s talking about. If he’s asking you to switch sides, it’s for good reason.”

“Let’s help each other,” Hawkeye finished.

Wanda and Pietro drew aside, conferring quietly for a moment. Natasha leaned over and said in a low voice, “You going to make a habit of converting the enemy?”

Clint shrugged. “Well, seeing as it worked so well with you…”

Wanda stepped forward and addressed Clint. “We will work with you.”

 

* * *

 

Over in the Avengers’ Tower, Tony and Bruce were hard at work on something technological that nobody was bothering to try and understand, Steve was giving some orders to Maria and to Fury over the phone, and Pepper was handing a drink over to Thor while Betty ran around assisting everyone.

Clint and Natasha entered with the Maximoff twins, who looked around with suspicion.

“Special delivery!” Clint announced.

“Ah!” Thor said, going over to greet the twins while everyone else hesitated. “It is wonderful to have such warriors on our side in this upcoming battle. I am Thor Odinson of Asgard.”

He held out his hand for Pietro and Wanda to shake. The twins did so, still eyeing him a little warily. “I’m Pietro, of Sokovia. This is my twin, Wanda.”

“So whatcha got for us?” Tony asked.

Pepper walked up to the twins with two glasses of water in hand. “What Tony means to say is that he greatly appreciate you teaming up with us.”

She handed the water to the twins, who drank it gratefully.

“And any intel you can give us on Ultron would be great too,” Steve said. “We’re up a creek without a paddle here.”

“Like what is he using the vibranium for?” Bruce asked.

“He’s been using the vibranium to rebuild his robots, make them invincible,” Wanda explains. “And he is building a—a machine of some kind underneath the church.”

“He wouldn’t tell us what it was for,” Pietro added.

“I think he will use it to destroy our country.”

“So basically your run-of-the-mill evil super villain stuff,” Tony said in a disappointed tone. “I’ll be honest I expected a little more creativity.”

Wanda glared at him. “Ultron can’t see the difference between saving the world and destroying it. Where do you think he gets that?”

Tony bristled. “Pretty touch talk for someone who had a deal with HYDRA.”

Steve took a step forward, putting himself between Wanda and Tony. He looked over at his teammate and raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, who’d be crazy enough to let a German scientist experiment on them in order to protect their country?”

Tony saw the point and backed down.

Steve turned to the twins. “I know we’ve had our differences. But we’ve got to work together now, so let’s save any personal feelings until after we deal with Ultron.”

“Guys,” Betty said, “Something’s happening to the internet.”

Everyone turned to look as Betty held up a computer pad. It showed that Ultron had taken over the internet to broadcast a message.

“To those that call themselves the Avengers,” he began. “Still hiding? I wish I could say that I’m surprised.”

The news, televisions, and the internet around the world filled with images of Ultron droids taking over various U.S. army bases, killing the personnel and taking control of missiles and other war machines.

“Here’s what I propose…”

The video feed switched to Sokovia, where more Ultron droids were amassing.

“I won’t use the United States’ massive and well-funded military to obliterate the world just yet. But I will destroy this forgettable little country—unless you come out and stop me.”

Everyone stared in horror as they realized the choice before them.

“The clock is ticking.”

The transmission cut out.

Wanda started for the door. “We have to go.”

“Doesn’t seem like we have much of a choice,” Tony observed.

“We need a plan,” Steve said, halting Wanda in her tracks. “Ultron’s got us outmatched, we need to even the playing field. We have to get back control of those military bases, and we have to evacuate civilians. We can’t let them pay the price for our battles.”

“Even if we kill Ultron out there,” Tony said, “He can still vanish into the internet and reappear somewhere else.”

“I believe I can help with that, sir.”

Everyone swiveled around to look, shocked, as Pepper pulled up the image of JARVIS’S ‘brain’. She smiled. “Look who I found hiding in the internet.”

Tony was overjoyed but tried to play it cool. “JARVIS! I knew he couldn’t beat you, buddy.”

“I’m afraid I had to fake my own death,” JARVIS said, “As strange as that may seem for a computer program.”

“JARVIS and I can cut Ultron off from the internet,” Pepper said.

Tony snapped his fingers. “Get Rhodey on the line, see if he can get back those military bases.”

“I’ll call Sam,” Steve said, “He’ll love working with Rhodes. Maria, how are we coming on the SHIELD agents?”

“They’re awaiting your orders, Captain.”

Steve grinned. “Then, Avengers…”

 

* * *

 

The Quinjet flew low over Sokovia with Tony at the helm. The twins and the rest of the Avengers were poised at the back, ready to jump out.

“You guys ready?” Tony called over his shoulder.

“As we’ll ever be,” Natasha said dryly.

Tony opened up the hatch at the back of the plane, allowing everyone to jump out. “Now!” He yelled.

Steve launched himself bodily into the air, parachute be damned, his shield on his back. Thor grabbed Pietro and Wanda and used his hammer to fly, guiding himself and the twins to the ground. Hawkeye fired an arrow with a line attached to it and hooked his quiver over it, using it as a zip-line. Natasha straddled a motorcycle and rode it out, flying down onto the ground and zooming off.

Bruce hesitated and looked back at Tony.

Tony nodded. “You got this, buddy.”

Bruce nodded gratefully and then leapt out, transforming into the Hulk as he did so.

There was a pause, and then Tony spoke again. “You sure you know what you’re doing?”

Betty opened the floor hatch and climbed out, shaking her hair out of her face. “I can figure it out.”

Tony handed the controls over to Betty, who slid into the pilot seat, and then he jumped out. His Iron Man suit assembled around him as he fell, stopping him right before he hit the ground, and he was able to fly up and over the city.

At the church in the center of the city, Ultron sat, pondering Loki’s staff in his hand. He heard the telltale roar of a motorcycle and smiled. The Avengers had answered his challenge.

He turned in time to see Natasha ride up on her motorcycle—and smash straight into him, making him shatter to bits. Thor, Wanda, and Pietro landed nearby and Clint zipped down. Steve landed a moment later, leaving a dent in the concrete.

Another, larger Ultron droid appeared. “Time for the fun to begin.”

He tried to blast them with lasers but everyone dodged. Thor threw his hammer, knocking Ultron’s head off. “IS THAT THE BEST YOU CAN DO?”

Dozens more Ultron droids appeared, their eyes glowing with menace.

Steve sighed. Now he knew what Bucky felt like when Steve had been picking fights in alleys. “You had to ask.”

The Ultron droids started to advance.

“You get hurt, hurt ‘em back,” Steve said. “You get killed… walk it off.”

Pietro scrunched up his eyebrows. “That is not very inspiring.”

Hawkeye loaded an arrow. “Next time you can write the motivational pre-battle speech.”

Tony landed next to Steve and took in how many droids they were against. “No way we’re getting through all of this.”

Steve shrugged. “I got no plans tomorrow night.”

Tony nodded and fired up his blasters. “Let’s get this party started.”

The final battle had begun.

Wanda used her chaos magic to send things flying into the droids and scramble their wiring. Pietro ran around knocking into them and yanking out their wires. Hawkeye fired his arrows, Natasha had her Widow’s Bite and her fighting moves, Steve had his shield, Thor his hammer, Tony his blasters and of course, the Hulk was wreaking havoc.

“I don’t think you fully understand,” Ultron said. “I will take everything from you. I will take your creations, your inventions, and I will turn them against you.”

“Well, that’s unfortunate,” Tony quipped.

He shot Ultron with a tank missile. Another Ultron stepped up.

“I am unstoppable. If you strike this body down, more will take its place.”

“Sounds an awful lot like HYDRA to me,” Steve replied.

Tony cleared his throat. “Well I only created about 300 suits so…”

Steve stared at Tony. “You really need a new hobby Stark.”

“Don’t tell me things I already know, Spangles.”

More droids appeared.

“We will take everything from you,” Ultron said. “Starting with hope.”

“And how do you propose to do that?” Tony demanded.

One of the droids shot a car, making it explode. People screamed and ran.

“Simply through my actions.”

A small rock hit Ultron in the back of the head. He turned and caught sight of a small girl standing there defiantly, glaring at him. Ultron raised his arm to take a shot but Steve jumped and rolled, landing in front of the girl and deflecting the shot with his shield. “I don’t think you understand, Program.”

Ultron glared at him.

“Yeah,” Steve said. “ _Program_ , because that’s what you are. You aren’t capable of taking hope from people. And the more you try, the more you will fail.”

Ultron began shooting lasers at Steve, heating up the shield. Steve grit his teeth and held his position.

“I AM CAPABLE!” Ultron shouted.

“Hey Sparky,” Tony said. “Over here.”

Ultron whirled around and got a tank missile to the face.

“You know I hate it when you try to steal the show, Cap.”

Steve grinned. “I’m glad you’re on my team, Tony.”

More droids appeared yet again. Steve hauled the little girl up into his arms. “Take care of Ultron. I’ve got the civilians.”

Tony raised his blasters. “My pleasure.”

Just then, a massive helicarrier appeared on the horizon and someone spoke into Steve’s commlink.

It was Fury.

“Rogers!”

“Fury, you son of a bitch!”

“Sorry we’re a little late,” Maria said, “But we have all the carriers.”

“Fury!” Tony yelled. “You owe me one of those!”

“Put it on my tab, Stark.”

“Great,” Steve said, heading for the helicarrier with the girl. “I’ll start guiding the civilians to you. Just be ready to load them up and get out of here.”

“Will do, Captain,” Fury replied.

Bob, the SHIELD agent who, once upon a time, had refused at gunpoint to assist a HYDRA agent and adhered to his Captain’s orders, was at his computer. “We’re ready to launch when you are, sir.”

Fury nodded. “Send ‘em out.”

A number of escape ferries were sent out from the helicarrier, ready to load civilians and take them back to the carrier, out of range of the warzone.

Steve yelled into his commlink. “Maximoffs! These are your people, they’ll trust you! Help me get them to safety!”

“I’m on it!” Pietro replied.

Wanda glanced over her shoulder at her brother. “And stop messing around!”

Pietro paused. “You know, I am twelve minutes older than you.”

The twins grinned at each other and Pietro took off. He dashed back and forth, yelling at everyone to head for the helicarrier, grabbing children and zooming them over to the ferries, and then running back. Wanda began hexing things to get in the way of the droids and create a safe path for the civilians. Steve carried the little girl to one of the ferries, then ran back and began guiding people to safety.

Thor, Tony, Bruce, Clint and Natasha continued to fight Ultron and his droids. It was a pretty fair fight, all things considered—the Avengers were talented and strong, but there were a hell of a lot of droids.

“Reminds me of Budapest,” Natasha commented.

Clint paused. “Really? _This_ does?”

“Someday you two are telling me what the hell happened in that city!” Tony yelled.

Meanwhile, Pietro ran into the police station. The police knew how to evacuate people, right? They’d been trained for stuff like this.

“This city is under attack!” He yelled in Sokovian. “We have to get the civilians to safety!”

Everyone stared at him, but nobody moved. Pietro ran out, returned with a disabled Ultron droid, and began firing the laser into the ceiling. Everyone jumped up, the policemen grabbing their guns.

“Get off your asses!” He yelled in Sokovian, and then took off again.

In another area of the city, Wanda short-circuited an Ultron droid that was threatening some civilians just as another droid blasted a building. She could hear screams coming from inside as the building began to collapse. Before she could even consider if her magic was strong enough, she cast a hex, freezing the building. She ran over, peering in a window.

On the floor lay two dead adults, probably parents. They had been crushed. And behind them, curled up against the wall and clutching at one another…

Oh, God. There were three of them, so young, so helpless. Their tiny faces were scrunched up with fear and shock. Had she ever been that small, that helpless?

Wanda reached out to them, calling in Sokovian. “Hurry! I can’t hold it forever!”

The children gathered themselves and ran over to her, allowing her to pick them up one by one and direct them to the rescue ferries.

Wanda sank back against the wall.

It all felt like yesterday.

She wondered if a part of her would always still be trapped under that rubble, staring at her mother’s dead body and the Stark missile next to it. She’d been ten years old and terrified. Every time people had tried to help them, the missile had shifted, and she’d thought, _this will be what kills us_. Pietro had tried to comfort her, but he had been just as scared.

She remembered crying, reaching for her mother’s hand, thinking that if she could only just reach her, touch her one last time, she’d return to them. She would smile at them and say _it’s all right, my darlings, it will be all right_. They’d always been her little darlings.

A few tears slid down Wanda’s face. She missed her mother still. All these years later, and it still felt like some days she was just trying to reach for a hand—any hand—that would guide her and comfort her.

Then she felt a rumble.

Her freezing hex on the building was gone and the building was starting to collapse. Wanda stumbled backward, trying to get out of the way, hearing the sound of turning gears and wires too late, turning to see the droid raise its blaster—

An arrow shot into the droid and it fell, dead. Clint drew another arrow and had it ready, grabbing Wanda and guiding her into an empty building.

She was shaking all over.

“You okay?” Clint asked, crouching down next to her.

Wanda shook her head. “I… I don’t know.” Another blast hit the building and she flinched. “There are so many of them. How do you do this? How can any of you do this?”

“If we don’t, who will?”

Wanda stared up at him.

Clint sighed. “We’re fighting an army of robots and I have a bow and arrow. Nothing makes sense.”

“I failed my people,” Wanda admitted. “My heritage. I brought this destruction upon them. How can I possibly atone for that?”

“Doesn’t matter what you did, or what you were. If you go out there, you fight, and you fight to kill. Stay in here, you're good. I'll send your brother to get you to the helicarrier. But you step out that door, you have to let that guilt go and focus on this present moment.” Clint’s face was dead serious. “You step out that door, you're an Avenger.”

Wanda soaked in his words, turning them over in her head.

 

* * *

 

Tony noticed a droid headed for Steve, who was still guiding civilians. “Cap, you got an incoming!”

The droid smashed into Steve. “Incoming already came in!”

* * *

Pietro appeared in the doorway, looking in on Clint and Wanda. “We’re okay,” Clint reassured him. “She just needs a minute.”

He led Pietro outside. “How are you doing?”

Pietro cracked his neck, grinning. “All right. This is the most exercise I’ve had in ages.”

“This isn’t all fun and games, all right? Lives are at stake.”

Pietro’s grin widened. “Doesn’t mean we can’t also enjoy it!” He dashed off. “Keep up, old man!”

Hawkeye drew an arrow and pointed it at Pietro. “No one would ever know…” he mumbled. “’Where’s the kid?’ Oh, last I saw, Ultron was sitting on him. Shame, really. Miss the little bastard already.”

 

* * *

 

The Hulk smashed buildings and trampled cars in his quest to destroy the droids swarming him like bees. People around him screamed, making him disoriented as the Bruce part of him realized that he was putting civilians in danger. He stumbled, torn and confused.

A lone figure ran out into the street, towards the rampaging Hulk.

It was Betty.

“BRUCE!”

The Hulk tore off the last of the droids and stopped, staring down at her in confusion.

“It’s me. It’s Elizabeth. Betty.”

The Hulk roared at her but she stood firm, her hands up to show that she wasn’t a threat. “It’s okay. It’s me. It’s just me. I’m here.”

The Hulk calmed down a little.

“That’s it. Just listen to the sound of my voice.”

The Hulk took a step toward her. It was impossible to tell if he was simply curious or if his humanity was starting to win over.

“It’s okay, Bruce. I’m here.”

Betty started humming ‘At Last’ as the Hulk came toward her. Betty held out her hand, palm up. Bruce reached for it, entranced by her calmness.

Betty smiled. “There we go.”

The Hulk hovered his massive hand over hers. Betty turned her hand over and the Hulk mirrored the movement so that now her hand was hovering over his. She lightly touched her fingertips to his palm.

“It’s me. It’s all right. I’m right here. I’ll always be here.”

“Betty?” The Hulk asked.

He stumbled away from her, transforming back into Bruce with each step, until he was lying on the ground and panting. Betty came over to him and put her hand on his cheek, steadying him. He grabbed it and pressed his lips to her knuckles.

“Are you still planning on running away?”

Bruce looked up at her.

 

* * *

 

Clint fired arrows at the droids, but he could tell he was quickly becoming surrounded. He needed to clear an exit route, and fast.

Several droids were blasted out of the way or hexed into short-circuiting. Clint turned.

Wanda exited the building, blasting droids right and left. She’d made her decision. She was going to stand and fight.

Clint grinned at her proudly. His smile reminded her of her mother’s hand.

 

* * *

 

Thor, Tony, and Natasha continued to fight Ultron and the droids, but the tide was starting to turn against them. Ultron backhanded Natasha as she jumped at him, sending her flying into a pillar. She slid to the ground, apparently unconscious. Thor and Tony went at him but Ultron grabbed Thor’s wrist and twisted his arm until Thor had to drop his hammer. He then began beating on Thor, which caused Tony to land on Ultron’s shoulders to get him to stop, which in turn made Ultron grab Tony and bash his and Thor’s heads together.

It really wasn’t looking good.

 

* * *

 

Wanda caught sight of something behind Clint. “Look out!”

Clint turned just in time to see a droid about to fire a laser at him. There was no time to fire an arrow, no time to do anything but close his eyes and prepare for the hit—

Pietro ran in front, shoving Clint out of the way just as the droid fired. Wanda blasted the droid, making it collapse. Clint and Wanda stared at Pietro, who stared down at himself. He’d been hit in the side—not badly enough to kill, but it was definitely worse than the hit Clint had taken earlier. He needed medical attention immediately.

He looked up at them. “I… did not see that coming.”

He started to collapse and Clint caught him. “I’ll get him to the helicarrier. Go! Stop Ultron!”

Wanda gave them a worried look but took off running. Clint started carrying Pietro to the helicarrier—no small feat given how heavy the kid was. What had he eaten for breakfast, cement?

 

* * *

 

Steve finished loading the last of the civilians. He yelled into the commlink. “Civilians are evacuated! How are we looking?”

Thor and Tony were unconscious, their heads in Ultron’s powerful grip.

“Tony? Thor? Bruce? Natasha?”

Natasha lay on the ground, still out cold. She gave no answer.

Clint ran up to Steve, who helped him settle Pietro into a seat. “What’s going on?”

“I don’t know,” Clint answered. “Wanda’s still live but I haven’t seen or heard from the others.”

Natasha stirred slowly, turning her head and lifting it slightly. She saw Ultron with Tony and Thor in each hand, but then her gaze moved to the right and she saw something else—Mjolnir.

Natasha spoke quietly into the comm. “Give… me… a minute…”

She slowly rose to her feet. Ultron heard the noise and started to turn, but Wanda appeared.

“Time to end this.”

Ultron turned and stared at the young mutant. “Are you an Avenger now? Going to start wearing spandex?”

“I am an Avenger,” Wanda acknowledged. “I will avenge my people. I will avenge my brother.” She raised her hands. “I will have my vengeance upon you!”

She began scrambling Ultron’s circuits, making him scream in pain and drop Thor and Tony. Natasha made a final dash for Mjolnir and grabbed it.

Natasha Romanoff, the Black Widow, assassin and former killer, the first female Avenger, _wa_ _s fucking worthy_.

She swung Mjolnir. There was the sound of thunder and lightning crackling, despite the clear blue sky above. The hammer connected just underneath Ultron’s chin in a nasty uppercut, hitting his head clean off. Wanda focused her powers and Ultron’s metal and wires began to crush and corrode, short-circuiting and scrambling and rusting. A century of machine decay, and Wanda was making it happen in the span of a few seconds.

Natasha hit Ultron again with the hammer, this time in the center of his chest. She then brought the hammer down on Ultron’s decapitated head, crushing it.

All of the Ultron droids collapsed to the ground.

Wanda and Natasha locked eyes.

Wanda stopped her magic on Ultron and used it to jumpstart Tony and Thor, who awoke with a start.

“Owww,” Tony said. “My head.”

He said up, his helmet coming off so he could gingerly press his fingers to his head and check for damage. Thor stood up and looked over at Natasha. She set the hammer down, embarrassment causing her lips to purse and her eyes to dart away from Thor’s gaze.

Thor shook his head and held out his hand.

Natasha picked up the hammer again and walked over to him. Tony looked up and saw her walk past him. Steve and Clint ran up just in time to see Natasha hand Mjolnir to Thor.

Everyone stared.

Thor smiled at her. “Whosoever be he, or _she_ , who is worthy.”

Natasha smiled. “I told you it wasn’t a question I needed answering.”

Clint was smiling so wide he looked like he was going to split his face in half. Steve looked so proud, one would think he was the one who’d just picked up the hammer. Tony spluttered.

Wanda didn’t seem to understand what the big deal was.

“So…” Steve said. “He’s gone?”

“It appears so,” Thor replied. He went over and picked up Loki’s staff. “This is an end to the battle, but not an end to the war.”

* * *

 Everyone rendezvoused back in the helicarrier. Wanda followed Pietro as he was wheeled off to surgery, unconscious and under the affect of several powerful drugs. Thor gave strict instructions on the containment for Loki’s staff. Natasha and Clint conferred privately in sign language, their fingers flying fast as they stood far too close for two people who were just friends.

Steve and Maria were on a video call with Sam and Rhodey.

“We’re all good here, Cap,” Sam was saying.

“What happened?” Rhodey asked. “One second our asses were in the fire, next second all the droids shut down.”

“We destroyed Ultron for good,” Steve explained. “Are the weapons secure?”

“Yup,” Rhodey replied.

“You want me to head back to Russia?” Sam asked.

“Yeah, I’ll rendezvous with you as soon as I can. Thanks for the help, guys.”

“No problem,” Rhodey said. “And remind Tony it’s pizza night tomorrow.”

“Will do, Colonel.”

Tony approached Fury. “Hey, did a Quinjet land on the dock by any chance?”

“No. And no sign of Banner, either.”

Tony’s eyes went wide. “That little minx.”

 

* * *

 

_Hi, you’ve reached the office of Pepper Potts. I’m sorry I can’t get to the phone right now, but leave me a message and I’ll be sure to return your call. Thank you!_

*beep*

_Pepper, it’s Bruce._

* * *

 

Pietro rose slowly to consciousness. He was in a bed—a rather soft one. He turned his head. There was a nightstand. On it was a picture of the Avengers all eating at some greasy spoon restaurant, a pile of food on their table. A shawarma place, if he was reading the signs on the menu above the counter correctly. They were all clearly exhausted, but they smiled at the camera. Thor had food in his mouth, Steve had a rueful tilt to his lips, Tony looked a bit haunted, Bruce had a zombie look in his eyes, and Natasha and Clint seemed to be completely done with everyone’s shit.

Also, Clint had his hand over Natasha’s.

“They keep this sick room in case one of them is injured. It’s state of the art.”

Even if he didn’t recognize the voice right away—which he did—only one person he knew spoke Romani.

Pietro turned and looked into his sister’s nervous face. She smiled. “Hi.”

He sat up. “How long have I been out?”

“Three days. You were very lucky.”

There was a moment of silence as Wanda gathered up her courage.

“You were right, about everything. We should not have gone to HYDRA. We should not have turned our back on our heritage like that. We should not have worked with Ultron. I was blinded by my hate and you nearly paid the price. You are the most important thing in my life.” She looked up into her brother’s eyes. “Can you ever forgive me?”

“My darling sister.”

Pietro reached over and took his twin’s hand in his.

“There is nothing to forgive.”

Wanda grinned and hugged him, bursting into tears. After a moment she pulled back, still smiling, tears standing in her eyes.

There was a knock.

The twins turned to see Clint leaning on the doorframe. “Am I interrupting?”

“No,” Pietro said. “No, come in.”

Clint entered the room and stood at the foot of the bed. “I have a proposition for you.”

 

* * *

 

Up in the renovated common room, Tony poured Steve a drink and passed it to him. Steve looked down at it. “You know I can’t get drunk.”

“Unless it’s Thor’s special happy drink, yeah, I now. But it’s ceremonial.”

They clinked their glasses together and drank. After a thick swallow, Tony spoke.

“I, uh, have something to say, and it’s not going to be easy, so I’m just going to come out and say it.”

Steve watched him, wary.

“I… I need a break. After—well, the whole Iron Man thing, and Pepper—and now Ultron, and JARVIS—I just, I need some time. I hung up the suit and I meant it. I know, it was needed this time, but I want to walk away for a while.”

“I understand.”

“You do?”

“I’ve got my own stuff that’s going to keep me occupied.”

Tony nodded, acknowledging and accepting Steve’s mission with Bucky. “But you’ll still be on call.”

“Yes.”

“See, I won’t. I got a girlfriend I’ve been neglecting, a company to pretend to run—I need a new hobby, like you said.”

“And here I thought you never listened to me.”

Tony smiled. “No, I just pretend not to.”

 

* * *

 

“There ate two spots open on the team,” Clint explained. “We could use two fighters like you. But only if you want to.”

“We will not answer to SHIELD,” Wanda warned him.

“No, that's disbanded. That helicarrier was all volunteers—former SHIELD agents that Agent Hill contacted and asked to help us. You'd answer only to the people of the world. But your actions would be answerable. You'd have a responsibility. When there's a threat you have to drop everything. You have to be willing to give your life in service to those who can't protect themselves. It's a lot to ask, especially from kids like you, but the offer is open if you want to take it. What do you say?”

Wanda and Pietro looked at each other.

 

* * *

 

Thor entered the common room. “I have examined Loki’s staff. It does indeed contain the Mind Stone. I will have to take it to Asgard for safekeeping before I return to Jane.”

“Something’s coming,” Tony said. “Someone got into Ultron’s head and made him go whack.”

“Probably the same person who gave Loki the staff and his army,” Thor theorized.

“That means there’s still a threat out there,” Steve said. “We’ll need to be ready when it comes.”

“We will be,” Thor assured him.

“Won’t know what hit ‘em,” Tony declared.

“Until then,” Steve said.

The three men exchanged handshakes and shoulder claps.

* * *

 

Steve was just about to get on his motorcycle at the base of the tower when Natasha emerged from the building and came up to him. She was wearing sweats and a shirt that was obviously too big for her—a man’s shirt. She was also wearing the arrow necklace that Steve had seen her wear back when they were exposing HYDRA and facing the Winter Soldier.

Natasha folded her arms and cocked her hips. “You going after your ghost again?”

“Sam thinks he picked up a lead outside of Munich.”

Natasha squinted at him. “How long are you going to keep at this?”

Steve glanced down at the ground, then met her gaze again. “As long as it takes.”

Natasha nodded in understanding. Then, to Steve’s surprise, she leaned in and hugged him. He hugged her back, pleased. He knew it wasn’t easy for her to show affection of any kind, especially physical affection, and he felt honored.

After a moment he pulled back, and Natasha let him. Steve got on his motorcycle, started it up, and drove off.

Natasha watched him until he was out of sight.

 

* * *

 

_Pepper, it’s Bruce. I’m okay and I’ve got Betty with me. We’re, uh, we’re going on a little detour. More of a long detour. I’m sorry I couldn’t do this in person but circumstances were a little rough._

* * *

 

Tony drove his car along the California coast toward his home in Los Angeles. It occurred to him that he had been five years since he and Pepper had started dating.

Was that ring place at 3rd and Fairfax still open?

 

* * *

 

_Tell Tony not to blame himself. He’s doing the best he can—and he’s the best friend I could’ve asked for._

 

* * *

 

Steve boarded the plane for Munich, his wallet in his hand to show his I.D. Almost absentmindedly, he pulled a picture of Bucky out of his wallet and stared at it as he shuffled through the security line. He looked up, and forward, imagining.

Imagining their reunion.

 

* * *

 

_Tell Steve to never change._

 

* * *

 

Thor landed in the field—built especially for him—outside of Jane’s facility. She ran up to him and kissed the everloving daylights out of him.

* * *

 

_Tell Thor I’ll be back for that drink._

 

* * *

 

Betty placed her hand over Bruce’s in the jet. They were over a series of tiny tropical islands near Fiji. It was far enough away from people that he wouldn’t be a threat, but close enough that they could venture out for supplies and to help people if the need arose.

 

* * *

 

_And tell Nat—tell her that she was right. Clint you better hold onto that one, she’s a keeper._

* * *

 

Pepper listened to the message on her phone, trying to hold in her tears.

_I’ll see you around._

_But only if it’s a Code Green._

 

* * *

 

Clint and Natasha entered the gym in the tower. Wanda and Pietro were already suited up for them, waiting. The corner of Clint’s mouth twitched.

“All right, kids. Let’s get started.”

 

* * *

 

_Mid-Credits Scene_

 

Tony was sitting on one of the couches in the common room, in a bit of a shock. He stared. “So that’s what happened?”

In the couch across from Tony, Clint and Natasha nodded.

“Yup,” Clint said.

“Wow.” Tony leaned back a little. “You think they’ll ever let you back into the city?”

“Tony, they won’t even let us back into Hungary,” Natasha said.

“So wait, for _that_ , you got kicked out of an entire country?”

Clint and Natasha nodded, dead serious.

“Wow.”

Tony stood up. “Well, thanks for telling me. That’s a crazy story.”

“As crazy as an army of sentient robots or aliens riding flying motorcycles?” Clint replied.

“Touché,” Tony said. “All right. See you guys later.”

He left the room.

Clint looked over at Natasha. “Are we ever going to tell him what really happened?”

Natasha didn’t even blink. “Nope.”

* * *

 

_End Credits Scene_

 

Thanos at on his throne, contemplating life. Or something like that. His servant approached, bowing and scraping.

“My Lord. Ultron has been defeated. The Mind Stone did not work.”

“It is of no matter,” Thanos rumbled.

“But the know of your existence, my Lord!”

Thanos made a sound that might have been a chuckle. “That will not save them in the end. Their time of extinction is upon them. But we can learn from the robot’s mistakes.”

“My Lord?”

“Bring me the gauntlet.”

Thanos clenched his fist, already feeling the gauntlet on his hand.

“If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself.”

**Author's Note:**

> I personally ship Steve/Bucky (post-TWS only), but I know that not everyone does, and since I was writing this as if it were actually going to show in theaters, I left the nature of Steve's feelings for Bucky ambiguous. He could view him as a best friend, or he could be realizing Bucky means more to him than that. It's up to the reader/viewer to decide.


End file.
